Like Shattered Glass
by Arwhale
Summary: After one of Sweetie Belle's clumsy mistakes ends up destroying one of her sister's entire fashion lines, Rarity is finally sent over the edge. But after a terrible accident lays Sweetie Belle at the foot of death's door, Rarity is faced not only with losing her sister, but also with the reality that she may never be able to apologize for what she did. Rated T for future chapters.
1. Broken Window

There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Celestia's sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, briefly coating the sky in whitish gold before fading away into blue. The crisp, early spring air was shedding the trees of their flowers, blowing petals of various colors around in swirls like a school of fish swimming in the ocean. There was not a stir yet in little Ponyville, as the Saturday morning was still young.

Not a stir, that is, but the faint chatter of a sewing machine.

While Rarity always appreciated the value of beauty sleep, she was no stranger to all-nighters. Her mane was disheveled and messy, matted together by sweat from working all night long. She worked with the daintiness and care of a true artist, eyes never losing focus through the lenses of her working glasses and her hooves never slipping or making a mistake, despite her fatigue. A row of mannequins off to the side were fitted with a series of dresses she had made in a period of only one weekend, her latest fashion line for an exhibition in Canterlot only a day away. She was on her last ensemble now, stitching the intricate design together with intense concentration.

The sun aligned itself with her window as it climbed above the horizon, pouring light right onto her working table as she sewed the last part of her dress together. Rarity flinched as the light blinded her, bringing a hoof up to her eyes to shield them. She carefully used her other hoof to guide the fabric, putting the finishing stiches on her dress, sighing with relief as she finished her work. She looked over to the window, taking note of the sunrise, and sighed again, this time with exhaustion.

_Looks like yet another night without sleep. You really need a vacation, Rarity. _

The door to the guest room opened down the hall from her workroom. Rarity turned her head to the sound, hearing little hoofsteps coming down the hallway. Sure enough, the head of her little sister poked through the doorway, and she walked in to the room. Rarity regarded her with a puzzled expression, hovering her newly made piece over to an empty mannequin.

"Well, you're certainly up early today." She placed the dress with great care on the mannequin. "Did you sleep well?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Not really…" she yawned. "What about you? You're up even earlier than me."

Rarity shook her head, smiling a bit. "Actually, I've been up all night working…"

"Again?" Sweetie Belle's voice cracked with astonishment. "That must be like, the third time this week!"

Actually, it was the fourth, but Rarity didn't want to correct her sister on _that _fact. She sighed.

"Yes, yes, I'm aware." She adjusted the dress so it looked perfect on the mannequin, "But this exhibition is the perfect way for me to get myself noticed in Canterlot. All the biggest names in fashion and design will be there to see my work, and it would be a crime not to take advantage of the opportunity to show them my talents!"

Sweetie Belle yawned again, and mumbled under her breath, "Yeah, but not getting any sleep is a crime, too."

Rarity heard her sister's remark, and rolled her eyes, smiling. Her sister was right of course, but still…

"I know, I know. I promise, Sweetie, as soon as I get the chance, I'll get some sleep. But I'm simply just too busy at the moment. Surely you can understand."

Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle with pleading eyes. Her sister frowned, but relented, still showing her disapproval by staring at the floor.

"Oh, okay. But I still don't like it," she gave her last two cents with a pout.

Rarity exhaled deeply, wiping her eyes and fighting the urge to close her eyes and fall asleep right there. "Neither do I, Sweetie Belle. Neither do I."

Sweetie Belle went back to the door, calling back, "what do we have to eat for breakfast? I'm so hungry I could eat a..."

Rarity wasn't paying much attention, and so she interrupted her mid-sentence.

"Yes, yes, I have some cereal and milk in the refrigerator downstairs. Sorry, but I'm just not in the mood for making a big breakfast today, Sweetie Belle. You understand, don't you?"

"That's fine with me," she replied, "If _I _stayed up all night long, I probably wouldn't want to do much of anything, either."

Sweetie Belle's words were well-meaning, but her tone retained a hint of irony and bitterness which her elder sister noticed right away. Rarity shot her a disapproving glance.

"Point taken, Sweetie Belle," she said with an irritated sing-song voice, "I promise I'll get a good night's sleep tonight. Okay?"

"Okay, fine." Sweetie Belle was already on the stairs. Rarity waited until the hoof steps had receded before shaking her head, saying to herself, "That filly is simply impossible!"

But still, she knew her sister was right. It was very unhealthy to do what she was doing for even _one _night, let alone three… four. She groaned.

At least her lineup looked fabulous. She stepped back and admired her handiwork. She had two dresses for each season, making a total of eight. For each pair, one was a more conventional style of dress, and the other, a more extravagant, or, as Applejack would say, "Frou-frouey,"outfit. For the grand finale, she had even made the dress she had initially intended for Twilight's birthday in Canterlot, and it stood prominently at the front of the row. With this display, she was sure to be noticed at the exhibition. She smiled proudly.

"Hey Rarity, which cupboard is the cereal in?" Sweetie Belle called upstairs from the kitchen. She hadn't realized it, but she'd been standing there for almost five minutes. She shook her head, as if waking up from a trance.

"Hold on, I'm coming, Sweetie Belle." Rarity took one last look at her creations, and closed the door to her workroom.

…

"Wait, I don't understand… what's the problem?"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at Scootaloo, who was walking beside her with Applebloom down Center Street.

"The _problem_ is that my sister never has any time to relax! She's always working, no matter what. She never sleeps!" Sweetie Belle's voice cracked again with a frustrated shout, startling her friends on either side of her. She imitated Rarity's voice now, "'Oh, Sweetie Belle, I'd love to, but I have to make this dress for an _extremely _important designer in Canterlot! I'm so sorry, little sister, but I have to make a new line for an exhibition next week that I simply _cannot _afford to miss! I've got this thing and that thing and I can't just _sleep! _You understaaaand, don't you?'"

Sweetie Belle's impression was pretty spot on, and it elicited a smirk from Scootaloo. Applebloom, on the other hand, was not smiling at all.

"Ah'm sure she knows what she's doin', Sweetie Belle…" the farm filly began. Sweetie Belle, however, cut her off before she could say anything further.

"And that's the worst part! She _knows _what she's doing, and she's still doing it anyway! And now I can't sleep because I'm worried about _her _not sleeping, and…"

Sweetie Belle groaned, kicking the dirt with her hoof with frustration. Her two friends walked silently, unsure of what to say. Finally, Applebloom spoke up.

"Rarity runs her own store… ponies get busy sometimes when they run their own places. She's probably just goin' through a busy time, that's all. Me an' Applejack are up till Celestia knows when making cider during Cider Season. She's probably just going through a busy time, that's all," she said, smiling nervously.

"Well, yeah, but she… but…" Sweetie Belle stuttered, taking Applebloom's words into consideration.

"Applebloom's got a point, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo added, "I mean, it's cool that you care about her and all, but you worrying about her isn't gonna do much. You just gotta let her do her thing."

"But… but I…" Sweetie Belle tried to protest, but in vain. She knew her friends were probably right. She sighed. "Oh, okay. I guess. But I still don't like it."

With this said, none of the fillies spoke to one another for quite some time. Scootaloo, being the one most easily bored, was the first to pop the question, "So… what are we going to do today for our cutie marks?"

Both of the other fillies shrugged. Neither of them seemed especially eager to start planning their next excursion, their spirits still a bit dampened by the sad nature of their last conversation. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

"Come on, guys. You comin' up with anything?"

More shrugs. Scootaloo sighed.

"Gee. You guys sure are no fun today," she said with a groan. Sweetie Belle sighed.

"I dunno. I'm just not in the mood for doing any crusading today, Scoots." She sulked, idly kicking a pebble with her hoof, watching it bounce down the dirt road, knocking up little puffs of dust and dirt with each bounce. Scootaloo bumped Sweetie Belle playfully with her side.

"Aw, come on, cheer up, Sweetie Belle! I know you're still worked up about your sister and all, but you're starting to get me a little worried. You sure nothing else is going on?"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, looking up from the ground at Scootaloo with an annoyed glare. "Yes, I'm sure. Like I said before, I haven't been sleeping much lately. I'm just tired."

"Well, you know what'll cheer you up?" Asked Scootaloo, trying, and failing, to liven Sweetie Belle's spirits. "Some good ol' fashioned Cutie Mark Crusading! I'm sure you'll forget all about being tired once you start doing something."

Sweetie Belle didn't reply. Scootaloo frowned. Applebloom, who had been silent for a long time, finally piped up from Sweetie Belle's other side.

"We could try doing something nice an' easy… something that wouldn't be too hard to do. You know, cuz Sweetie Belle isn't feeling so good."

"Watcha got in mind?" said Scootaloo, happy that at least one of her friends wasn't down in the dumps today. Applebloom thought for a second, tapping her chin with her hoof.

"I dunno… kickball?" She suggested. Sweetie Belle was not responding, but Scootaloo looked over at Applebloom with a skeptical expression.

"We've already tried kickball… haven't we? I mean, we have, right?" Scootaloo asked, unsure. Applebloom shook her head.

"Nope. Never tried it before," she replied with confidence. Scootaloo was surprised.

"Huh. Wow. You would think that after doing stuff like hang-gliding, skydiving, and water-skiing, we would have tried out kickball…"She reflected, laughing sheepishly. She nudged Sweetie Belle with her hoof. "What do you think, Sweetie Belle?"

The little unicorn gave yet another shrug, kicking a second pebble down the road. "I don't care. Fine by me."

Scootaloo needed no more encouragement to get started. She clapped her hooves, rubbing them together with anticipation.

"Right, now where can we get a good ball?"

…

There was an open expanse of field behind Rarity's Carousel Boutique that the girls found suitable to their needs, and so they set up there. They had managed to acquire a nice ball from Lickety Split, but had to resort to improvising bases out of sticks, reserving a large, flat stone for home plate. Scootaloo drew a line in the ground with her hoof right in the center point between all of the bases, marking the pitcher's mound, and placed the ball right in front of the line. She called out to Sweetie Belle, who was standing at the home plate, "Are you ready?"

The unicorn filly shook her head. "Nah. I don't really want to play."

Scootaloo groaned. "Come on, Sweetie Belle! I'm sure you'll have fun if you just try!"

Applebloom agreed. "Yeah! Who knows, maybe this'll actually be the day you get your cutie mark!"

Sweetie Belle, however, was not exactly optimistic. She shook her head. "Yeah, right. That's what we said the last 30 kazillion times."

Applebloom was not ready to give up on her friend just yet. She knew it was probably a lost cause, but she was going to try her best to make her friend feel better. She walked over to the big rock that served as home plate. "Here, I'll go first."

Applebloom stepped up to the plate… or rock… and readied herself for the pitch. "Let 'er rip, Scoot!"

Scootaloo nodded. "Okay, here it comes!"

The little pegasus went back a few steps, buzzing her wings to give her a little extra speed, and ran forward, hitting the ball with the top of her head, sending it rolling over the grass. Applebloom waited until the ball was almost at home plate, charged forward, and kicked out with her front hoof as hard as she could.

She completely missed the ball. It rolled and bounced past her hoof, and the momentum of her body caused by the poorly-aimed kick sent her stumbling forward, face-planting into the dirt with a startled yell.

Scootaloo bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, looking down to keep Applebloom from seeing her smile at her expense.

The yellow filly looked up, wiping the grass and dirt from her face. Despite Scootaloo's best efforts, it was obvious to Applebloom that she was trying not to laugh. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh," said Applebloom, cracking a smile.

"Laugh? I'm not, I'm not laughing, I'm…" Scootaloo cracked up, no longer able to hold it in, tears trickling down her face. "Hahahaha! Oh man, you should've seen yourself! Hahaha!"

Scootaloo fell over onto her side, kicking out with her back legs and clutching her abdomen with her forehooves, laughing hysterically. Applebloom joined in the merriment, laughing at herself with Scootaloo, and pretty soon both fillies' sides were hurting as they rolled around on the grass.

Sweetie Belle couldn't help but smile. She was still not in the best of moods, but watching her friends having fun seemed to rub off on her a little bit. Still, her usual optimism hadn't yet returned, and when Scootaloo and Applebloom stopped laughing, a frown had returned to her face. Scootaloo walked over to the pitcher's mound, pushing the ball over to the spot with her head.

"Okay, Sweetie Belle. You're up." The pegasus filly pointed at the rock marking home plate with her hoof. The other filly, to Scootaloo's chagrin, shook her head.

"Nah. I'll probably just do what Applebloom did anyway…" She held her head low, drawing a circle in the grass with her hoof. Scootaloo groaned.

"Aww, come one, Sweetie Belle! At least try to have a little fun!" She stamped the ground with her hoof, exasperated but worried for her friend. Applebloom tried to make light of the situation, walking over to Sweetie and punching her playfully on the arm.

"Yeah, Sweetie Belle. I mean, it's not like you can possibly do any worse than me. Seriously." She giggled, using her head to push Sweetie Belle over to the plate. "You've got nothin' to worry about."

Sweetie Belle put up a struggle against Applebloom's push, but the other filly was stronger from her days working at the farm, and pretty soon Sweetie Belle was standing on home plate. The unicorn gave Applebloom a dirty look, but stayed in place.

"Alright, you ready?" called Scootaloo from the middle of the field. Sweetie Belle groaned.

"Oh, okay, fine. I'll play." She finally caved. Scootaloo took a few steps back, and prepared to hit the ball.

"Okay!" Scootaloo hit the ball with the top of her head, sending it bouncing toward home plate.

To Sweetie Belle, the ball seemed to be moving one frame at a time as all of her irritation and frustration was rapidly coming to a boiling point. She didn't know why she was feeling so angry, but all she knew was that the little, bouncing red ball was about to feel her wrath.

The unicorn filly ran forward, and with a loud shout, jumped up, turned around, and pushed off of the ground with her forelegs, kicking out with her back hooves as hard as she could.

Both hooves connected, and the ball sailed through the air, well over Scootaloo's head and far out into the outfield. Scootaloo and Applebloom's jaws dropped open, their eyes riveted to the ball that was high up in the sky, watching it move in a massive arc, zooming off into the distance…

And straight into the top window of the Carousel Boutique.

All three fillies heard the unmistakable sound of shattering glass. In an instant, all of Sweetie Belle's pent up anger left her, and she turned around, cringing, to see the broken window of her sister's shop from far away. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Oh no…" Sweetie Belle stood there on the field, momentarily shocked. Her other two friends couldn't do or say anything either, their eyes fixed on the morbid sight.

Sweetie Belle broke out into a run, galloping toward the Boutique. Fear began to tie her stomach in knots as she neared the entrance. Surely it couldn't have gone through _that_ window…

"Oh no," she said again, tears springing to her eyes. She burst through the front door, the little silver bell on the door ringing out in mockery of her plight. Sweetie Belle ran up the stairs, making a beeline for her sister's workroom.

The door to the room was already open. Sweetie Belle ran in, skidding to a halt, short of breath from her running. Her heart stopped.

Lying on the floor was the entire lineup of dresses Rarity had made for the exhibition. The ball had stricken the first one in the lineup, and they had all fallen over in a domino effect, some of them ripped and frayed at the seams as the fabric caught onto other things in the fall. A few of them looked totally ruined.

And there, standing next to it all with eyes that burned hotter than embers, was Rarity.

Sweetie Belle could sense her sister's rage which was almost tangible in the air. There was all of her hard work and sleepless nights, lying in tatters on the floor of the workroom. And it was all her fault.

"Rarity… I'm… I, I'm sorry…"

"Get out."

Rarity's voice was cold. Unmoving. Uncaring.

Sweetie Belle's tears flowed down her cheeks in rivulets, her whole body shivering in fear and sorrow. "Please, sis, I didn't mean… we were just playing, and I—"

Rarity whirled around, her tired, bloodshot eyes burning with more vehemence and anger than Sweetie Belle had ever seen. Rarity marched slowly toward her whimpering sister, who was taking a step back with every step Rarity took toward her.

"Oh, shut up," she hissed. Sweetie Belle silenced herself, shrinking back from her advancing sister.

"Why is it that whenever I try to do something, you've _always_ got to be there to ruin it? You destroy all of my work, my entire line, with your stupid, childish games, and you honestly think I care that you're sorry? After everything I worked on, you expect your little 'sorry' to cut it?" She raised her voice, stomping on the floor with her front hoof and causing her sister to jump back.

Sweetie Belle fought back sobs, her whole body shaking. Never, not even during their argument during the Sisterhooves Social, had she ever seen Rarity like this. The poor filly was terrified.

"Please, Rarity, I-I-I can help—"

"I don't want to hear _anything," _she growled, silencing Sweetie Belle immediately. "I don't care about your excuses. I don't care how _sorry_ you are, I don't care _what _you do! I don't care if you leave here and never come back! _I don't care!_"

Sweetie Belle was now standing right in the doorway, her nose and Rarity's almost touching. The little filly was frozen to the spot. Rarity's scream could be heard up and down the street.

"GET OUT!"

And on this last command, Sweetie Belle turned around and ran away, bawling her eyes out.

…

**Note: Jeez Louise, it sure took me long enough to write this, am I right? Sorry for anyone that's been waiting for me to update; I've had a pretty insane workload lately, so I have had precious very little time to squeeze leisure writing into my schedule. **

**So, another tragic story. For some reason, I kind of feel… should I say, underwhelmed by the way I wrote some of it, but overall, I feel rather okay about the way this turned out. Feedback with regard to anything that can be improved would be much appreciated. **

**Also, thanks to everybody who read my last story and gave me their honest opinions and critiques. I was surprised that my first story ever on this site got so many hits and people reviewing, so that's pretty cool. I'm just glad a lot of people seemed to like it. **

**Hopefully I can get the next part of this out sometime in the near-distant future. We shall see…**

**Thank you for reading! **


	2. Venom

Scootaloo and Applebloom had followed Sweetie Belle up to the front door of the Boutique, where they were now waiting anxiously. Applebloom paced back and forth, staring at her hooves.

"Do you think Rarity will be mad?" Scootaloo asked the other filly, biting her lip. Applebloom grimaced.

"Ah sure hope not…" She replied, pausing for a moment before blurting out, "Gosh, Scootaloo, Ah feel awful!" She curled up on the ground, hiding her face between her hooves.

Scootaloo's raised one eyebrow in puzzlement. "Wait… why?"

"What do you mean, why? We kinda forced her to play, didn't we?" Applebloom moaned with exasperation. "And now she's gonna get in trouble and I can't help feelin' like it's kinda my fault!"

The pegasus filly listened to her friend's concern, and it did not take long for the wave of realization to hit her as well. She hung her head.

"Yeah… I guess you're right. We did kind of make her do it… What're we going to do?"

Her question was answered with a scream of rage from inside the Boutique. The two Crusaders froze.

"Oh no." Applebloom got up and went to the door, pressing her ear against it. Her worry turned into fear. "Was that…?"

Sweetie Belle's wailing cry was heard only moments before she came bursting through the door. Applebloom cried out as the door smacked her in the head, knocking her aside. At first, Scootaloo jumped back with surprise, but quickly recovered, darting after the unicorn filly while Applebloom lay dazed on the ground.

"Sweetie Belle, what's wrong? Come back!"

…

Rarity stood stock still, facing the open door. A cloud covered the sun, blocking the beams of sunlight streaming through the window and painting the room a shade of gray. The air was heavy and suffocating.

The only sound remaining was the ticking of a clock.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

_Get out._

Her body went numb with the recollection of what was not even a minute in the past. All the words she had said were burned into her memory like a hot iron.

_Oh, shut up._

Her lip quivered.

Tick. Tock.

_Why is it that whenever I try to do something, you've _always_ got to be there to ruin it?_

The sound of her fast beating heart accompanied the clock.

…_you honestly think I care that you're sorry? You expect your little "sorry" to cut it?_

Her body broke out into a cold, clammy sweat. A sob rose in her chest.

Tick. Tock.

_I don't care _what _you do! I don't care if you leave here and never come back! _I don't care!

Her legs gave out from under her, unable to bear the weight of her guilt.

_GET OUT!_

She wept.

…

Tears blinded her, but Sweetie Belle kept running. However, Scootaloo, being the athlete she was, did not take long to catch up to her.

"Sweetie Belle! What happened? Did you get in trouble?"

"Just leave me alone!" Sweetie Belle cried. But Scootaloo was not planning on giving up. She passed Sweetie Belle, jumping in front of her. Her friend went off to the side, dodging Scootaloo and running off in another direction. Scootaloo called out after her, giving chase once again.

"Come on, just tell us what's wrong! We can help!"

"I'm stupid and useless, that's what's wrong!" She sobbed out. Her tears obscured her vision, and she did not notice a small stone in front of her until too late. She tripped over it, falling onto the dirt with a sharp cry, landing hard on her side.

"Sweetie Belle! You okay?" Scootaloo slid to a halt right beside her, trying to help her up. Sweetie Belle scrambled to her hooves, pushing Scootaloo's outstretched hoof away.

"Go away! Just leave me alone!" She turned more aggressive, glaring daggers at Scootaloo. Desperate to get to the bottom of things, the pegasus filly grabbed hold of Sweetie Belle to keep her from running away again.

"Look, I'm sorry we made you play, I really am! Please Sweetie Belle, let's just talk for a second!"

"I said, leave. Me. _Alone_!"

Stars exploded in Scootaloo's vision. She flew back with a yell, landing with a soft thud on the grass. The pegasus filly's hooves immediately shot up to clutch her snout, and she felt a hot, sticky fluid run down her face and over her hooves. When she opened her eyes, colors danced and swirled in front of her, until eventually her hooves, stained crimson with blood, came into focus. She rolled onto her side, groaning with pain, pressing on both sides of her snout as it bled like a tap.

By the time Scootaloo looked back up from her place on the dirt, Sweetie Belle was lost to sight.

"Oh my gosh, Scoot, what happened? Where's Sweetie Belle?"

Scootaloo rolled over to see Applebloom galloping toward her, her face the picture of worry. The young pegasus stood back up, wobbling slightly in the process, but Applebloom was there in time to help her stand up straight. The farm filly gasped.

"Oh man, what happened to you? You okay?" Applebloom gestured to her friend's snout. Scootaloo looked down, mesmerized by the sight of blood all over her hoof.

"I… think Sweetie Belle just…hit me." Scootaloo wiped her snout again, sniffling. Applebloom's jaw dropped.

"She hit you? Why would she do a thing like that?" Applebloom looked around, frantic. "Where did she go?"

Scootaloo shook her head, dizzy from the blow."I dunno. I couldn't see where she went. She said to leave her alone. Uhh…" Scootaloo groaned again.

"We've gotta go find her!"

"Nah… maybe we should wait a little bit," said Scootaloo, still clutching her snout. "She probably just needs to be by herself right now."

Applebloom was about to disagree, when she took another look at her friend's face. If Sweetie Belle had been angry enough to do that, then maybe they _should _wait.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she agreed with reluctance, taking a seat next to Scootaloo, patting her back in a comforting gesture.

As the minutes dragged on, the blood flowing from Scootaloo's nose eventually stopped, and her dizziness subsided. Once she had fully recovered, Scootaloo blurted out, "You don't think she's mad at_ us_, do you? You know, for forcing her to play and all?"

Applebloom exhaled deeply, giving the question a lot of thought.

"I dunno. I wouldn't blame her if she was, though." She pouted. Scootaloo gave a grim laugh.

"Yeah. Me neither."

Another minute went by before Applebloom stood back up, taking a couple of steps forward.

"How 'bout we get on over to my place so you can wash yourself up? Sweet Apple Acres isn't that far away," suggested Applebloom. "Then we can go find Sweetie Belle, wherever she is. That way, she has enough time to… cool off."

Scootaloo considered the idea, and agreed with a little nod. "That's sounds cool to me… hey, wait! What happened to your head?"

Scootaloo looked at Applebloom's forehead, which was sporting a nasty bruise. Applebloom looked puzzled, feeling her forehead, and wincing as her hoof pressed on the blue and black spot.

"Uh… I think that might've been from the door when Sweetie Belle came out of the Boutique." She felt the bruise, which was swelling up into a little bump. She shrugged it off. "No biggie. Let's go."

The two walked off towards Sweet Apple Acres, nursing their wounds.

…

Applebloom brought Scootaloo to the back entrance of the house, inviting her friend inside. She cautioned her, however, with a hoof over her mouth in a shushing gesture.

"Shh…Granny Smith is probably taking her nap right now, so I don't want to wake her up and have her see y'all… like this." She whispered. Scootaloo frowned.

"Does it really look that bad?"

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah… it's pretty bad." She walked with a careful step to the front of the house. "Follow me."

Sure enough, Granny Smith was right on schedule, dozing in her chair and snoring gently. The two fillies snuck past her, gritting their teeth with the effort to not make any noise. Once they were up the stairs, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, bathroom's down here." Applebloom opened the door. Scootaloo walked over to the sink and turned the faucet with her crimson hooves, and began furiously scrubbing them.

Applebloom walked out of the bathroom, calling back, "I'll be right out here, kay, Scoot?"

"Mmhm." Scootaloo was splashing water on her face, looking in the sink with morbid fascination as the water turned red. Applebloom closed the door behind her, and turned around.

She jumped with surprise as Applejack stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at her from the other end of the hallway.

"Uh… hey Applebloom." Applejack approached her. "What're you doing here? And who's in the bathroom?" She tilted her head, angling her ear toward the sound of the running faucet.

"Uh, uh, umm… Scootaloo." Applebloom blurted out. It was a good thing she closed the door, otherwise…

The bathroom door opened, and Scootaloo peeped her head out.

"Hey, Applebloom, you got a washcloth or a towel or something? The blood won't come off… uh oh."

Scootaloo froze in the doorway, staring at Applejack. Her snout was still smeared with red. Applebloom smiled nervously.

"Yeah, um… Scoot had an accident, so I brought her here so she could clean herself up," said Applebloom, her ears falling back on her head.

Applejack's eyes grew wide as saucers. "Good gravy, what kind of 'accident' are we talking about here? It looks like somepony…"

She paused, also noticing the goose egg on her sister's forehead. Almost right away, her surprised expression turned into one of sternness.

"Did y'all get into another fight, AB?" She asked, gravely serious. At hearing this, Applebloom gave an emphatic shake of her head.

"Oh, no! Well, kind of…" She said, looking away. Applejack, understandably, was not satisfied with her answer.

"What do you mean, 'kind of'?" She raised her voice, frowning. "Lemme tell ya, it sure looks to me like you're hiding something, sis, and from what I can see right now, it looks like y'all got into another fight-"

"No! I didn't fight anypony, honest! It's just really, uh… it's a long story," she said lamely, but made full eye contact with Applejack. "I didn't get into another fight, I promise."

Applejack took a long look at Applebloom, giving her a skeptical look. Despite what it looked like, she couldn't see any signs of dishonesty from her sister, and after a few seconds, her expression softened. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Alright. Ah believe you. But Ah do want to know how you and Scootaloo got hurt like that. Ah don't care if it's a long story, cuz Ah still want to hear it. We can talk in my room. Can y'all do that for me?" She asked them with a tender tone of voice. The two fillies nodded. Applejack smiled.

"Good. But first, lemme get you a washcloth, Scootaloo," said Applejack, going back downstairs to get a cloth from the kitchen.

"Thanks, Applejack," Scootaloo called out after her in a low tone of voice, careful not to wake up Granny Smith who was sleeping downstairs. Once Applejack was out of sight, Scootaloo turned to Applebloom.

"So, are we gonna tell her _everything_?" Scootaloo asked, daunted by the task. After all, it really was a long story. Applebloom nodded.

"Yeah. We just gotta tell the truth, that's all," she stated simply.

Applejack came back upstairs with a washcloth tossed over her shoulder. She passed it to Scootaloo, who took it eagerly, going back into the bathroom to finish up. Applejack motioned for Applebloom to follow her, and she said back to Scootaloo, "We'll be in my room. Just come on in when you're done."

"M'kay," replied Scootaloo, scrubbing her snout with the wet cloth. Applejack shook her head in good humor.

"Well, we sure ain't gonna be able to use _that_ cloth again. Oh well." She chuckled. "Come on, sis."

Applebloom stayed back a ways, hesitant. Applejack noticed, and she walked back over to her, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, sis. Neither of you are in trouble, Ah promise. Ah know y'all are telling the truth." She cocked her head toward her room. "Come on."

Inwardly sighing with relief, Applebloom followed her sister into the room.

…

Sweetie Belle ran until she could run no more.

The unicorn filly had run all the way to the outer edge of Sweet Apple Acres, and was finally forced to stop and catch her breath. She gasped, her lungs sucking in air greedily and her chest heaving. She went over to one of the trees and stood up on her hind legs, placing both of her forelegs onto the trunk of the tree and falling into a violent coughing fit. Once the coughing subsided, she proceeded to wander the orchard aimlessly, dragging her hooves through the grass with her head hung in despair.

"I wonder what a cutie mark for always ruining everything would look like," she said, a sob rising in her throat. "That's the only thing I'm any good at."

Sweetie Belle gradually changed direction, not paying any attention to where she was going. Before she knew it, she was outside of the west end of Sweet Apple Acres, the soil beneath her quickly turning into clay. The filly looked up for the first time, to see the wall of apple trees marking the edge of the orchard several meters behind her. In front of her, the land was dotted with rocks and boulders, and the soil was rocky and infertile. She sighed, and kept walking until she reached a huge stone which was flat on the top. She felt so tired, so drained of energy, and to her, this rock looked like a place where she could just sleep…

The young filly plopped down on top of the stone, curling up into a ball and resting her head on her forelegs. She closed her eyes.

Without warning, there was a loud buzz. Sweetie Belle's eyes shot open, suddenly on the alert. She lifted her head, looking all around her. The buzzing sounded almost like somepony was furiously shaking a maraca, only it was sharper in tone. And very loud.

And it was coming from a spot right below the rock.

The noise made Sweetie Belle uneasy, but curiosity got the best of her. She quietly got down from the big stone and stepped around the rock.

There was a brief flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, which was immediately followed by a sharp pain in her right leg. She jumped back with a yelp, landing on the ground a few steps away from the rock.

"Ow! What the…"

Sweetie Belle's blood ran cold. Right in front of her, on a spot right below the big rock she had been laying on only moments ago, was a fully grown rattlesnake.

Over a third of its body was raised off of the ground, its head reared back in a striking position. It gazed at Sweetie Belle with reptilian, unblinking eyes, its menacing forked tongue flickering in and out of its mouth and its rattle buzzing in a warning that was too late to heed.

The unicorn filly looked down at her hoof, to see two tiny little holes spaced less than a centimeter apart. Fang marks.

Sweetie Belle stared at the two little holes, gripped with terror.

"Oh no," she whimpered, taking several steps back away from the snake. "Oh no, no! No!"

The filly could already see the area around the fang marks swelling up as the venom began to do its work. She did not know much about rattlesnakes, but she had heard stories about ponies that had been bitten by them, only to suffer slow, painful deaths…

The thought chilled the poor filly to the bone. Panic began to set in, but she fought it with all her might, taking many deep breaths. She had to stay calm.

She needed to get help. There was no time to waste.

With grim determination, Sweetie Belle turned around, walking back to Sweet Apple Acres, leaving the rattlesnake behind to sun itself on the rock.

…

After sitting down on Applejack's bed, the two fillies told Applejack everything they could remember, all the way from their morning conversation until right then. It had taken quite a while, but now the room was silent as Applejack mulled over everything in her head, thinking deeply.

"So after you tried to ask her what happened, she popped you in the nose, Scootaloo?" Applejack asked the filly sitting beside her on the edge of the bed. Scootaloo nodded.

"Yeah, Ah figured _somepony _hit you to get it to bleed like that," she shuddered, "but Ah definitely wasn't expecting that somepony to be Sweetie Belle. Ah don't know what got into her… she's normally such a nice girl…"

All of a sudden, it hit her. How had none of them realized it sooner?

"Thank y'all for telling me what happened, girls," said Applejack. She got up and walked over to the door. The other two fillies looked at her with confusion.

"Where are you going?" asked Applebloom.

"Ah'm going over to Rarity's place," Applejack replied. "Ah'm gonna try and get to the bottom of- hey! Is that Sweetie Belle right there?"

Applejack had turned around, and her gaze was directed out the window. The two fillies' heads perked up right away, darting over the window to get a look, being followed closely by Applejack. Sure enough, all three of them could see her coming right out of the orchard a small distance away. Applebloom jumped for joy.

"Yeah, that is her! She must've been walking around the… hey…"

Applebloom's excitement vanished. It took a matter of seconds for them all to realize something was not right. Sweetie Belle was half-limping, half-dragging herself over the grass, stumbling forward in a zigzag pattern.

"What's wrong with her? Why's she…" Applejack trailed off. She took a step back.

"Somethin' ain't right." She trotted toward the door. "She looks hurt. Come with me!"

...

At first, she had felt nothing but pain. But the agony had given way to numbness as her life quickly ebbed away.

She could only give shallow breaths, her lungs starting to fail her. Everything she saw was little more than a colored blur, and she fought desperately to keep her eyelids from falling shut. All her body wanted to do was sleep, to succumb to the venom flowing through her veins…

Suddenly, a voice called out to her. It seemed distant, like it was coming from miles away.

"Sweetie Belle!"

An orange-colored blotch came into her field of vision. The voice got louder, and was soon joined by two others that seemed even farther away. They sounded so familiar, but the filly couldn't put her hoof on why. She weakly lifted her head.

"Sweetie Belle! Are you okay, Sugarcube?"

That was when she knew. She hollered out toward the fast approaching blur with tears in her eyes, her voice cracking out of sheer desperation, "Applejack! Help! Help me! Help me please, oh help me…"

...

Sweetie Belle's agonized cries awakened the best of Applejack's motherly instincts. She sprinted forward, grabbing hold of Sweetie Belle just as she began to lose her footing, stumbling off to the side like a pony intoxicated. She held the filly steady, keeping her upright and placing a hoof on the sides of Sweetie Belle's face, touching the tip of her snout to hers and looking her dead in the eye.

"What's wrong, Sugarcube? Are you hurt?" She pulled her face away from Sweetie Belle, looking over her whole body for any injuries she could see. "What is… oh mah gosh."

She saw her front leg, and was struck dumb with shock. It was swollen purple and black, and the flesh above her hoof was beginning to dissolve away, forming grotesque flaps of dead tissue that were festering and oozing blood. But worst of all, placed right in the middle of the swollen mass of dying flesh, were two red dots. Almost right away, Applejack knew exactly what they were.

"Rattler!" Applejack exclaimed from between clenched teeth. She had never seen a pony bitten firsthand, but Granny Smith had warned her when she was a filly about rattlesnakes and their dangerous venom. She felt lightheaded at the thought.

"Sweetie Belle!" Applejack heard Scootaloo shout from behind her. She whirled her head around to see the two fillies galloping toward her as fast as their legs could carry them. Almost right away, Applejack focused in on the bow in Applebloom's hair. An idea popped into her head, and she yelled to her sister, "AB! Come over here, quick! Both of you!"

They needed no second bidding. Both of them obeyed without hesitation, coming to stop on either side of Applejack, who was now cradling Sweetie Belle's head in one arm as she lay on the ground. Before they could ask any questions, Applejack pointed at Applebloom's ribbon, saying with a tone of urgency, "Gimme your ribbon, AB! Fast!"

The red ribbon was to Applebloom as the cowboy hat was to Applejack; both sisters hated to part with them. But there was something in Applejack's demeanor that made Applebloom relinquish the ribbon without even a second's thought. She sat back on the ground, grasping one end of the bow between her hooves, and yanked hard until the bow had come undone. She passed the ribbon to Applejack, who caught it with her mouth.

Sweetie Belle was lying on her side, wheezing for air. Applebloom and Scootaloo crowded in closer, trying to get a better look of their friend, when they saw the leg that had been bitten. They recoiled in horror.

"Oh man! What happened to her leg?" asked Scootaloo. Applejack couldn't talk at the moment, but she wrapped the ribbon around the very top of the bitten leg where it met the shoulder, working it with her mouth and hooves until she had formed a knot. Using her mouth, she pressed one hoof on Sweetie Belle's leg, and pulled on the ribbon with all her might. Sweetie Belle cried out as the ribbon was pulled so tightly that it nearly cut into her skin, cutting off the circulation to her leg in an effort to prevent any more of the venom from spreading. Applejack turned to Applebloom and Scootaloo. She was trying not to cry.

"She got bit by a rattlesnake."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Scootaloo gasped. Applebloom's eyes watered.

"Ah'm gonna go get the wagon from the barn. She needs to get to the hospital," said Applejack, trying her best to keep her head. "One of you needs to run down to the hospital as fast as you can and tell them Sweetie Belle's coming."

Applebloom nodded right away. "Ah'll go!"

"Good, go!" She urged. Applebloom took off, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind as she bolted down the road. Applejack turned to Scootaloo.

"Y'all need to stay with her till Ah get back. And don't let her fall asleep, whatever you do! Do y'all understand?"

Scootaloo nodded wordlessly, too shocked to speak. Applejack took off.

Scootaloo went into action. She crouched down next to Sweetie Belle, who had not moved from her position on the ground. Scootaloo laid her hoof on her fallen friend's cheek, turning her head so Sweetie Belle was looking at her. The unicorn's eyes were pale and half shut, flickering open and closed.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle! It's me, Scootaloo! Wake up!"

The other filly's eyes shot open for a second with recognition, but it was apparent that she was having trouble keeping them from closing again.

"S-Scoot?" She stammered. Scootaloo nodded, smiling in a futile attempt to comfort her.

"Yeah, I'm here. We're gonna help you. Don't worry."

Sweetie Belle seemed to be comforted by this, and she rested her head back on the ground. She breathed in as deep as she could go, and stuttered out, "S-Sorry… I hit you."

Scootaloo didn't even know what to say. She lied down next to Sweetie Belle, laying a foreleg around her back and pulling her into her own body, shuddering at how cold her friend felt against her.

"Don't worry about it. Don't worry, it's okay. It'll be okay," she repeated, both to Sweetie Belle, and to herself.

She lay there for only a minute before she could hear the distinctive sound of wagon wheels rolling over the ground. Applejack came around the corner, pulling the apple wagon with a speed Scootaloo had never seen. She parked the wagon right next to them.

"Quick, help me get her in the back of the wagon!"

She and Scootaloo lifted Sweetie Belle into the back, setting her down onto the wooden floor. Scootaloo jumped in the back with her, and Applejack raced back around to the front, strapping herself back into the harness.

"Hold on to her! This is gonna be bumpy!" shouted Applejack. She charged forward, pulling the wagon at breakneck speed down the road.

Scootaloo sat against the side of the apple wagon, with the head of Sweetie Belle rested on her lap. She wrapped both hooves around her and never let go. She kept on repeating the same thing to herself.

"It'll be okay. It'll be okay."

But no matter how many times she said it, Scootaloo couldn't get herself to believe it.

…

**Author's Note: Hello, everybody! Took a long time to update this, amiright? The reason why is still the same, unfortunately. I've been insanely busy lately, and I've been writing this chapter in random spurts ever since my last update. So, if there are discontinuities or plot holes abound, that's probably the reason why.**

**So my goal for this chapter was to try to make it sad and bleak without dabbling into the realm of sentimentality, but I'm not sure if I succeeded. Overall, I'm pretty okay with the way it's written, but there's most definitely room for improvement in some places. **

**And thanks to everybody that reviewed and PM'ed me feedback on my last chapter! I may not have replied to you guys, but I appreciate it a LOT. It's nice when people are willing to share a constructive and/or well-reasoned opinion about what I've written, so thank you guys(and gals!). Although, I did get a PM from somebody whose name I will not mention in which I was called a "spanking fetish troll" for my story, Black Eye. Erm… I don't even know where to begin with that one… **

**Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait! Although, I regret to say that the next chapter is going to take a while as well. Until AP testing is over, I'm not going to see any break in my workload. Sorry. :(**


	3. Promise

White flower petals littered the dirt path, scattered and blown aside by a rush of air as Applebloom zoomed over them.

The filly picked up a tremendous burst of speed as she reached the steep hill heading down to the schoolhouse. She could feel gravity threatening to pull her down and send her head over heels down the hill, but she did not dare slow down. The wind fought her progress, blowing directly in her face and forcing her to squint, but she only exerted herself more, cutting through the air like a scythe as she made it to the edge of town.

She dodged around the other ponies on the road, not having the breath to mutter apologies as she brushed and bumped into some of them. The hospital was all the way on the other side of Ponyville, but the town was small, and it did not take long for the hospital to come into view. The sight of her destination forced her flagging limbs onto one last effort. She galloped for all she was worth, charging toward the front entrance. The automatic door of the hospital slid open, and the filly darted through, screeching to a halt on the hard tile floor of the waiting room. Applebloom gasped out, her lungs begging for oxygen, "Help! Nurse! Help!"

One of the nurses, a mare named Nurse Redheart, darted up to the front desk. Her heart quickened at the sight of the filly sprawled out on the floor, her mouth open and panting out an incoherent mess of words between breaths. She left the front office out the side door, darting over to Applebloom.

"What is it? What's the matter? Are you hurt?" Nurse Redheart rolled Applebloom over, placing a hoof under her head like a pillow. Applebloom shook her head violently from side to side.

"No! No, my friend… she's coming… r-r-rattlesnake bit her…" she managed to say. "She's comin' here… rattlesnake bit her leg…"

Upon hearing the word "rattlesnake" uttered from the girl's mouth, Nurse Redheart felt her throat run dry. Had she really heard correctly?

"You said your friend was bitten by… a rattlesnake?"

"Yes!" Applebloom removed all of the nurse's doubts. "Mah sister's coming. She's… she's bringing her here…"

The filly rolled herself out of Redheart's grasp, standing up on her shaking legs and coughing into her foreleg. The nurse felt a twinge of cold fear run down her spine. She had never dealt with something like this before, but as an educated pony, she knew what rattlesnake venom was capable of…

"You just stay right here, okay?" She told Applebloom, cantering away toward the back of the hospital. "Nurse Coldheart!"

Another mare's voice sounded from the back. "What is it, Redheart?"

"Do we still have that shipment of antivenom from Appleoosa? The one we got the end of last summer?"

The rest of their conversation became incoherent as she moved further away. It was only a minute before she and all the rest of the hospital staff returned with a stretcher. Applebloom lifted her head to see Nurse Redheart standing beside her.

"We're going to help your friend, don't you worry." She ruffled the filly's mane with her hoof. "We have it all together. Everything's going to be fine."

…

The veins on Applejack's neck bulged, her legs pounding the ground like four pistons. Sweat poured down her entire body, the droplets falling down her face and stinging her eyes, but she kept them open, not bothering to stop for even a second and wipe her brow.

Scootaloo felt almost weightless as they careened down the hill, her body feeling like it was going to lift off the wagon and fly out into space. She gritted her teeth together, tensing her hold on Sweetie Belle and shutting her eyes tight, preventing a scream of terror from escaping her throat. Sweetie's body was limp, but her chest shuddered with every one of her attempts to get a breath of air, fighting the overwhelming urge to just shut her eyes.

"Can't breathe!" She croaked, her voice barely audible over the roar of the wagon. Scootaloo wanted to do something, anything to help her, but she felt powerless. All she could do was try to comfort Sweetie as best as she could until they made it to the hospital.

"It's okay, it'll be okay, Sweetie Belle! Just keep trying! You're gonna make it, okay?" Scootaloo leaned forward, shouting words of encouragement in her ear. "Don't give up! You're gonna make it!"

But Sweetie Belle didn't seem to hear her. Her eyelids flickered open and closed, and then drooped shut. Scootaloo stared at her, waiting for her eyes to open again.

They stayed closed. Scootaloo remembered what Applejack said, and lightly slapped at Sweetie Belle's cheek and gave her a little shake.

"Come on, Sweetie Belle, stay awake, okay? Stay awake…" She stopped, looking intently at Sweetie Belle's eyes. They fluttered open for a moment, only to close again. She shook the unicorn filly more roughly.

No response. Scootaloo's heart skipped a beat.

"Sweetie Belle? Come on, you can't sleep, you gotta stay awake!" She shuffled her hind legs out from under Sweetie, rolling her onto her back. She offered no response other than the slight flutter of her eyelashes.

"Wake up, Sweetie!" She slapped at both cheeks, but Sweetie's head rolled limply from side to side, showing no signs of consciousness. Panic gripped her like a vice, and in a last ditch effort, Scootaloo raised her hoof up high, all the way behind her head.

"Wake. UP!" She brought her hoof down, smacking Sweetie Belle hard on the cheek. The unicorn filly's eyes flew open, and a strangled sob escaped from her throat. Scootaloo was so relieved she began to cry.

"Sweetie! Oh, thank Celestia! Sweetie! Listen to me!" Scootaloo pressed both hooves on her friend's cheeks and leaned in until she could feel Sweetie's hot, ragged gasps on her face. "You gotta stay with me, you gotta! You hear me?"

Sweetie Belle was staring back up at Scootaloo, but her gaze was distant, as if she was looking through her and up at the sky. Scootaloo nuzzled the other filly's cheek, wiping her tears on Sweetie's own face in the process.

"Can you hear me?" She tilted Sweetie Belle's head up, off of the floor of the wagon. "Say yes if you can hear me! Say yes!"

Sweetie Belle wheezed, the rattlesnake venom attacking her diaphragm. She sucked in air as deep as she could go, head shaking back and forth with the effort to get a deep breath, and coughed out, "Yes!"

That was all Scootaloo needed to hear. She embraced Sweetie Belle's head in both forelegs, overjoyed that her friend could still hear her. "Okay, listen to me, okay? You can't fall asleep, no matter what, you can't fall asleep, okay? Don't quit! Promise me you won't quit!" She pleaded.

"Promise… Promise!" Sweetie Belle choked, feebly using her good foreleg to return the hug, holding onto Scootaloo for dear life. The other leg lied off to the side, the necrosis worsening to the point where the muscle tissue was visible underneath.

Suddenly, Applejack dug her hooves into the ground. Scootaloo yelled out in surprise as the inertia sent the two fillies sliding toward the front of the wagon.

"We're here!" Applejack's voice called back. She was huffing and puffing, and her mane stuck to her neck from sweat and grime. Scootaloo looked up, and sure enough, they were stopped right in front of the hospital. She got off of Sweetie Belle, nudging her excitedly with her hoof.

"Sweetie Belle, we're here!"

…

The roar of the wagon could be heard inside the waiting room. Applebloom turned around, and shouted with anxious excitement and pointed her hoof, "They're coming! I see 'em comin' down the road!"

The other nurses all ran to the front of the room, peering out the window. Nurse Redheart saw the wagon fast approaching, pulled by a single mare at the front. She immediately went into action.

"Hurry, get the stretcher!" She urged the other three. They scrambled to do her bidding, nearly tripping over one another in the process, and wheeled the stretcher out the front door. Applejack pulled out of the harness, turning around and leaping into the wagon bed. Scootaloo was still standing over Sweetie Belle, tapping her friend's face with a hoof to keep her awake. Applejack stooped down and slid her hooves under Sweetie's back, lifting her off the wood.

"Help her…on my back, Scoot!" ordered Applejack, breathless. Scootaloo obeyed and got underneath Sweetie Belle with her head, pushing up on her body until she was lying limp over the apple farmer's back. Once Sweetie Belle was secure, Applejack leaped out of the wagon, landing on all fours and bending her legs at the knees to try and soften the impact. The landing still jarred Sweetie Belle's body, but she could only groan weakly in response.

The nurses were not far away. Applejack trotted over to them with Sweetie in tow and Scootaloo following closely behind.

"Don't give up!" Scootaloo said to her. Sweetie Belle lifted her head up from Applejack's back, looking Scootaloo dead in the eye one last time.

"Promise!" she croaked before the nurses surrounded Applejack, blocking her from sight.

Nurse Redheart stopped Applejack mid-step. "We can take her from here! Doctor Scopes has got everything set up for her, thanks to this filly right here," she looked over to Applebloom, who was standing a few steps away, watching as the other nurses placed Sweetie Belle onto the stretcher. Applejack smiled.

"Good job, AB," she said weakly, reaching out and ruffling the filly's mane with her hoof. Applebloom's cheeks flushed red, but she had no desire to bask in her sister's praise, trying to see Sweetie Belle on the stretcher through the jumble of ponies around it, but her view was very limited as they wheeled her toward the front door. Nurse Redheart addressed Applejack once more.

"How long since she was bitten?" She asked, their whole group walking briskly alongside the stretcher. Applejack was about to reply when Scootaloo piped up from behind.

"An hour. About." She cantered up beside Applejack. Her face was somber and pale as she exchanged looks with the nurse. The nurse's pupils dilated widened for a brief moment, but only Scootaloo noticed.

"That's… she was bitten in the leg, yes?" She looked over to Sweetie Belle on the stretcher, taking notice of the damaged tissue on the filly's leg. "The front leg?" Her voice became apprehensive.

"Yes, ma'am." affirmed Applejack, coughing into her shoulder, her lungs starving for air. The nurse said nothing until they had all come through the entrance. A moan came from the stretcher, spurring them on to move even faster than before.

"The room is down there and to the left. Doctor Scopes is preparing to administer antivenom. We'll have to take it from here while you girls wait outside. We can't have anybody else in the way while we work." Nurse Redheart held up her hoof to stop them. "I'm sorry."

"But… but…" Scootaloo began, but Applejack took a firm hold of the two fillies before they could do anything foolish. She looked down at them, pressing them tightly against her sides.

"Ah know it's hard to leave her here, but you gotta do what the nice nurse says, okay? We can't get in the way," she said, the two girls staring back up at her with teary eyes. The squeaking of the stretcher wheels faded around the corner ahead. "Got it?"

They nodded, sniffling. Applejack smiled. "Good. Now both of you just go back and sit tight in the waiting room for now, okay? I gotta talk to the nurse for a minute."

"Okay," they said in unison. With one last forlorn look behind them, they sauntered away, walking side by side.

Applebloom walked up beside Scootaloo. The pegasus filly acknowledged her with a sideways glance.

"Is she doing alright?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo bit her lip. She didn't want Applebloom to worry if she told her the truth…

"Yeah…" She lied. The word seemed so hollow, so meaningless. If anything, it told her that Sweetie Belle was far from okay.

"Is she… Ah mean, is her leg still all…"

"Did you see the nurse?" Scootaloo blurted out, cutting Applebloom off. The other filly shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

"She looked… scared. When I told her about Sweetie Belle. Her eyes got all big for a second," she said, taking a seat on one of the cushions in the waiting room. Applebloom took a seat next to her.

"I'm sure she was just… Scoot, you okay?" Applebloom asked. Scootaloo turned her head away, clenching her eyes shut. "Scoot? The nurse said everything was-"

"I lied."

Scootaloo stared at the floor, tears dripping down her chin and plopping onto the tiles. Applebloom raised her brow quizzically. "Lied? About what?"

"She's not okay. Her leg's worse than before, she couldn't breathe, she…She's not okay, Applebloom." She wiped her eyes, but new tears soon came in. "She fell asleep on the wagon, and I tried to wake her up, but… I shook her and shook her and yelled at her to wake up, but… I thought she was dead."

More tears hit the floor. Applebloom felt it was her duty to comfort her, but she had no idea what to say. Still, she made and effort to comfort the distraught pegasus with a hoof around her shoulders. Scootaloo didn't even seem to feel it. After a long pause, Applebloom spoke.

"She's here now, Scoot. The nurse said they were gonna take care of it. Sweetie Belle… The nurse said-"

"I don't care what the nurse said, damn it!" Scootaloo snapped her voice raising an octave. Applebloom recoiled in fright, taking her hoof off of her friend's shoulders like she had just touched a hot stovetop. "That's exactly what they told me when…"

Scootaloo trailed off, falling suddenly silent. Applebloom sat back a little bit, shocked by her friend's use of language. Finally, she gathered the courage to speak again.

"When…?" asked Applebloom, her voice low, wary of another sudden outburst from her friend.

"Nothing. Nevermind." Scootaloo's tone went back to normal. Her eyes were wet, but the tears had stopped flowing. She avoided eye contact with Applebloom, seemingly ashamed of her outburst. The farm filly wanted to give into her curiosity, to probe her friend for answers, but she thought better of it.

"Sorry, Scoot. Ah didn't mean to… sorry." She said, trying to make amends. Scootaloo shook her head, drying her eyes before turning her head to look at Applebloom.

"No. I'm sorry. For, you know, yelling at you and stuff. And cussing." She winced, looking away again. "Sorry."

"That's okay," said Applebloom. "But darn, if Applejack ever heard me say something like that…whoa nelly."

She laughed grimly. Scootaloo felt a smile creep up on her lips, but it did not take long to fade away.

It was a few minutes before they could hear the sound of hoofsteps coming down the hallway. Applejack came around the corner, and walked over to the two fillies.

"How's Sweetie Belle? Did the nurse say?" Scootaloo asked anxiously. Applejack took a seat beside them.

"They're just starting to give her antivenom. That should help her counteract all the bad stuff she's got flowing through her veins." She suppressed a shudder, a tingle traveling up her spine like a trail of ants creeping up her back. "How're you girls holdin' up?"

"Fine," they said in unison. Their faces said otherwise, however, the two of them sullen and downcast. Applejack sighed.

"Yeah, Ah know this ain't easy," she said, leaning in close. Her voice was gentle, almost a whisper, "But I just want to let you girls know you did great back there, and that I'm real proud of you." She nuzzled Applebloom affectionately. "Sweetie Belle's lucky she has friends like you."

Neither filly said anything, but judging from the smiles which flashed across their lips, Applejack could tell her compliment had been taken to heart. However, they were still far from consoled.

"So do they think she'll be fine? Do they?"Applebloom asked, Her question dripped with worry and anxiety. Applejack nodded, but it was hardly noticeable.

"The doctor's doing all he can. Sweetie Belle's in the best possible place right now. Ain't nothin' we can do anymore."

"So they didn't say?" Scootaloo asked, revealing her deep seeded doubts to the apple farmer. A bead of nervous sweat blended in with the rest of Applejack's glistening coat. She nodded, more emphatically this time.

"Nurse said she should be fine before too long. Don't worry your little heads. She'll be alright," she said. "Okay?"

Scootaloo stared back at the other mare with undisguised skepticism. Nonetheless, she replied in the affirmative.

"Okay."

"Okay. Good." Applejack exhaled with relief, glad that Scootaloo's eyes were no longer fixed on her. She got up from her seat, leaving the two fillies sitting there together. Applebloom watched her with a perplexed expression.

"What're you doing?"

"Do you guys know where Sweetie Belle lives? I gotta go tell her parents what happened." Applejack exhaled deeply, talking to herself, "Goodness gracious, how'm Ah gonna tell them? Oh nelly…"

"Her parents aren't here. They went on a trip to Fillydelphia for the weekend, so she's staying at Rarity's," said Scootaloo, very matter-of-factly. The apple farmer took note of what Scootaloo had said, and inhaled sharply.

"Rarity? Oh my gosh, I forgot." She made a motion toward the door. "Okay. Applebloom, I'm gonna need you two to stay put while I find Rarity, got it? And if the nurse comes in and asks you any questions, you answer them as best you can, understood?" She told her sister, inching away. Applebloom nodded obediently.

"Got it."

"Alright, good. Be back in a bit, okay?" She left through the automatic doors, trotting off to the Carousel Boutique. She wiped a hoof over her greasy forehead, breathing a sigh of relief.

Lying wasn't easy for the Element of Honesty.

…

Rain was scheduled for the evening. Pegasi were moving rainclouds into position, forming a dense cinereal canopy over Ponyville and stopping the warmth of the sun from fending away the chill of the early spring breeze. Once everything was in position, the all clear was given, and the first drop fell from the sky. It was soon followed by thousands more, soaking the town in a frigid rain.

It fell unhindered through the shattered window. A small puddle was already forming on the linoleum floor, and growing ever larger. As the wind blew, some of the rain fell through sideways, landing on the tattered remains of a dress which lay in a heap on the floor.

Rarity had not moved since Sweetie Belle had left. It felt as though lead weights had been shackled to her legs. Her head rested on the floor, face partially hidden by her unkempt mane, the cacophonic pitter patter of rain serving only to lull her deeper into a feverish sleep.

She was almost unconscious when, from the depths of her despair, she heard the jingle of a bell. Her eyes snapped open. It was coming from downstairs…

Somepony came into her shop. She immediately became alert; The Carousel Boutique was closed for the day, which meant…

"Sweetie Belle? Is that you?" She raised her head off of the floor, waiting for a reply with baited breath.

"Rarity! Where are you?"

The voice had a distinct country twang behind it, and immediately she recognized who it was.

"Applejack? Hold on, I'm coming!"

She got up from the floor and took a running step, but stopped before she could get very far, holding a hoof to her head. All the time she had spent lying down on the floor had made the blood rush to her head, and getting up so suddenly made the world around her spin like a top. Fortunately, the sensation passed quickly, and she regained her footing, running down the stairs…

And straight into Applejack. They both gave a yip of surprise as they collided, sending them tumbling over one another until they came to an abrupt halt, with Applejack lying over her crossways. She rolled out from underneath her, fumbling awkwardly until she was sitting on the floor.

"Applejack, what are you doing here?" The unicorn asked, raising her voice. Applejack looked up, seeing Rarity for the first time that day.

She was momentarily at a loss for words; Rarity looked like she hadn't bathed in a few days, her hair and tail having a sheen of grease and sweat that caused them to reflect the light. Heavy bags held her eyes in place, and traces of mascara which had trickled down her face were a stark indicator that she had been crying recently. Applejack would have asked her if she was alright, but there were more pressing matters she needed to address.

"Rarity, I got some real bad news…"

…

Flashes of lightning were punctuated by booms of thunder, becoming more frequent as the storm picked up strength. Any flower petals that hadn't already fallen were unceremoniously torn off their branches by the heavy rain, blown diagonally by the wind.

Twilight sat safely inside her treehouse, an open book lying in front of her on her desk. Using her magic, she scribbled away at a sheet of paper with her quill, her workplace illuminated by a small candle at the corner of the desk. Her position by the window made it difficult to focus, and occasionally her eyes would stray from her newest project to watch the lightning streaking across the sky, but being the studious mare she was, she wouldn't stay distracted for very long.

Today's subject of study was on the social structure of the old Canterlot nobility and its influence on the Unicorn Renaissance. She occasionally glanced back to her book for a reference, and resumed scribbling on her paper with the quill. When it ran dry, she dipped it back into the inkwell, and brought it back out. When she attempted to write with it again, her quill only made light scratch marks on the paper. Her eyes darted from the tip of her quill, which was still dry, and then over to her inkwell, which she only just realized had run dry as well. She groaned.

"Spike," Twilight called over her shoulder, "Do you know if we have any more ink?"

Her faithful dragon assistant was lying on the bed behind her, playing idly with a ball, bouncing it off the wall and catching it as it came back. After hearing her request, he caught the ball and set it down on the covers, meandering around the bed and over to the cabinets. "I dunno. Lemme check."

Twilight reread what she had already wrote as Spike searched the cabinets. He moved things to the side and stuck his head into the space.

"Great, I don't see any ink here." Spike's voice was muffled by the cabinet, but Twilight could still hear him plainly. She dropped her page onto the desk, groaning even louder than before.

"None? Ugh!" She slapped her forehead with her hoof. "Well, this is just great. Now I'm going to have to wait yet another day to finish. I knew we should've gotten extra…"

"Hey, it'll be fine," said Spike, closing the cabinet doors. He jumped back onto the bed and started playing with his ball again. "You've been working on that thing for two straight days now. I think it's time you got a break from everything. After all, it's not like you have any real deadlines any more ever since you became 'Princess Twilight' and all that." He bounced the ball off the wall.

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out. She exhaled.

"Yeah, I guess you're probably right." She gingerly pushed the paper off to the side, closing her book entitled "The History of Canterlot: Second Edition" and set it on the floor beside the cushion that served as her seat. "I do need a break. We'll just have to get more ink tomorrow when all this rain goes away."

Spike pouted, throwing the ball extra hard at the wall. "Yeah. Stupid rain. I'm so bored right now. I was planning on doing something outside once all my chores were done, but no. Pegasi had to schedule another stupid storm." He sulked. Twilight smirked, raising her brow quizzically.

"Oh really? And what were you 'planning' on doing outside?"

Spike shrugged. "Dunno. Just, you know, maybe going for a run or something."

Twilight scoffed. "Run? Since when did you want to get in shape?"

Spike caught the ball, but didn't throw it back. Instead, he set the ball back down and got up from the bed, pointing to his belly.

"Since…" he lifted up on his bulging belly, "_This._" He let go, his belly bobbing up and down a few times before coming to rest. He stared at the floor. Twilight smiled, ruffling his head scales with her hoof.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Spike. A little pudge around the middle is normal for a dragon your age… I think." She cringed as soon as the last two words left her mouth. Spike sat down on edge of the bed, eyes not leaving the floor.

"Gee, thanks," he said. Twilight frowned. She would have been just fine if she'd kept her mouth shut, as usual, but instead, she just made everything worse. She had to make up for it somehow…

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say anything to make you feel bad." She took a seat beside him on the bed. She played his headscales like a fine-toothed comb "Why're you so interested in getting in shape all of a sudden?"

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"Come on, there's gotta be a reason!"

No answer. She thought for a minute, resting her chin on her hoof. Her mouth slowly widened into a grin.

"Does it have anything to do with-"

"Look, before you ask, the answer is no, okay? Sheesh," said Spike, standing up and walking over to the stairs. Twilight suppressed a giggle.

"Yeah, sorry. I couldn't help myself," she said mischievously. "And I really am sorry if I hurt your feelings a minute ago. Okay?"

"Yeah. yeah," he drawled, "It's no big deal. I know I'm fat," he said, smiling at her over his shoulder. Twilight cracked up.

"No you're not! You're just… you're not fat!"

"Yeah I am."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not."

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

He was already downstairs. She wasn't about to get into a bickering fest with her assistant, so she decided it would be best to let him have the last word. Twilight shook her head, chuckling.

"Oh, Spike. What am I going to do with you?" She went back to her desk, raising the quill with her magic when she remembered that it was dry. Her smile went away instantly.

"Oh yeah. Right." She set it back down, looking around the room for something else to do.

"Or maybe a better question would be… what am _I _going to do with all this free time?" She talked to herself, face-planting into the desk. She absolutely hated having long periods of unstructured time. She _had _planned on working all evening, but thanks to her failure to keep track of her supplies, that plan had gone by the wayside. "Darn it."

Without warning, an unusually loud boom of thunder shocked her from her bored stupor, rattling the treehouse. She yelped in surprise, taking her head off the desk and peering out the window, just in time to see a bright, gorgeous flash of lightning streak across the sky, jumping from one cloud to another. Another thunderclap followed.

It did not take long for the storm to captivate Twilight, and she gazed in awe at nature's mighty display of power. She had always liked watching storms, even as a little filly, although she counted her lucky stars there was a lightning rod installed at the top of her treehouse. Otherwise, she would be in a pretty bad place…

She detected a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes peeled themselves away from the stormclouds, taking a closer look. A fuzzy outline of somepony could be seen out on the street, masked by the rain. No, there was not one, but two ponies out and about.

"Who would be out in this weather?" She wiped away some of the condensation on her window, pressing her face to the glass. "That's not very smart…"

As they got close enough to see more clearly, she could see both ponies were running at breakneck speed. The pony that was in the lead was white, and slightly trailing behind the other was an orange colored mare. But most strangely, her eyes centered in on the outline of a cowboy hat atop the orange pony's head.

"Applejack and Rarity? What in the…"

She pushed open the window and stuck her head out, drenching it in the rain. She hollered to get their attention, trying to make her voice louder than the roar of the storm. "Applejack! Rarity!"

But neither one heard her. As soon as she had seen them, they were gone, running toward the other side of town.

Twilight drew away from the window, contemplating. Both the Carousel Boutique and Sweet Apple Acres were in the other direction. If they were running for cover, they could have just come to her house; it's not like they'd never done it before. Whatever reason they had for running out in the middle of a storm like this, it probably wasn't good.

Spike had gotten to sorting out some books on one of the shelves when he heard Twilight's hooves clip-clopping down the stairs. He turned around, seeing Twilight making a beeline for the door.

"Wait, where are you going? It's still storming outside!"

"I'll be back in a little bit. Just stay put, Spike." She opened the door, turning her face away as wind whipped water onto her face.

"But…" he tried to protest, but Twilight cut him off.

"Stay here, okay?"

There was no time for Spike to retort. She slammed the door, leaving him there all alone.

Spike eyed the door. She had told him to stay there, but when he called to mind all of the other times she told him to do the same thing in the past and he hadn't listened, his not listening had ended up saving both of them. He made his decision.

It looked like he was going for a run after all.

…

**Author's Note: It's finally ready! Been at least two months since I've updated, maybe even three. I dunno. Sorry for the wait, but fanfiction's been kind of on the back burner for the last few months. I've been busy doing lots of other stuff, and I actually didn't even START working on this chapter until the Fourth of July, at around 4 am in the morning. Heh. **

**Considering the speed I wrote this in, I think it turned out pretty okay, but there might be a slight drop in the quality of writing as a result. Sorry about that. If you see anything wrong or something you think could be improved, let me know! I don't bite!**

**Thank you guys for reading! And here's to a faster update next time! **

**I hope…**


	4. Waiting

Under normal circumstances, Applejack would have had no trouble keeping up with Rarity. But it was not her little sister who was in the hospital, and these were not normal circumstances.

Applejack had no idea Rarity was even capable of running so fast, and it took every last ounce of her strength to keep the unicorn in her sights. The wind reached down from the heavens and grabbed hold of Applejack's hat, peeling it off her sweat-soaked head. The farm mare did a double take over her shoulder, just in time to see the hat disappear into the void, swallowed by the storm. She grunted, pressing on. There were much more important things for her to worry about than her hat.

The stormclouds masked the sunset as day turned into night, but light glowing from the hospital windows served as a beacon for her to follow. Applejack felt the crushing weight of exhaustion pressing down on her shoulders, but with her eyes glued on the lights, she pressed on. She wasn't going to quit until she had nothing left.

...

Try as they could to remain alert, neither filly could stay awake. Applebloom was the first to go, resting her head on her forelegs and curling up into a ball until her eyes fell shut. Scootaloo's eyes drooped as well, but just as she began to nod off, she jerked her head back up, struggling to keep herself awake. She repeated this several times until she could no longer hold sleep at bay, rolling over onto her side and falling asleep with her head on Applebloom's neck.

They were only minutes asleep when the hospital's front doors slid open. They awakened instantly.

All Scootaloo noticed out of her peripheral vision was a white and blue blur, which vanished down the hallway before either of them could get a good luck. Scootaloo perked her head up.

"What was… was that Rarity?" Scootaloo got to her hooves and hopped down from the waiting bench, trotting across the room to look down the hallway. Applebloom followed right behind, looking just as confused as her friend.

"Ah think so…"

"Look out, AB!"

Another pony shouted a warning from behind them. Applebloom reacted right away. She grabbed Scootaloo's tail with her mouth, yanking her out of the way as another pony blew past them, nearly running them over. Scootaloo yelped, both from surprise and from the sharp tug on her tail.

"Agh! What the… Applejack?" Scootaloo forgot the pain in her flank right away. Applebloom started after her sister, but before she could get very far, her sister hollered back at them.

"Stay right there!" She ordered, disappearing around the same corner Sweetie Belle had went on the stretcher. Applebloom stopped herself, sorely tempted to ignore her sister and follow anyway, but she reluctantly obeyed. Scootaloo sat beside her, staring down the hallway in slack-jawed surprise.

They were not entirely sure what to make of what they had just seen, but whatever it was, it didn't look good.

...

The only warning Nurse Redheart got was the sound of galloping hooves clopping against the tile floor, coming right around the corner. She turned her head to the sound. A white unicorn emerge from the hallway. She was panting, her bloodshot eyes frantically darting from left to right. They locked onto Nurse Redheart.

"Can I help you, miss?" Nurse Redheart asked sweetly, simultaneously taking a step back from the unicorn out of fear. She looked absolutely insane.

"My sister! Where… is she?" Rarity stumbled down the hall, her wild, red eyes boring into Nurse Redheart. "I need… to see her!"

Redheart fought the temptation to take another step back, standing her ground in the middle of the hallway. Her voice still dripped sweetness, but she was tensed as a coiled spring.

"Your sister? Oh no, I'm sorry, miss. We're in the middle of a very delicate procedure right now, and we can't have-"

"I need to see her! Where is she?" Rarity was almost upon Nurse Redheart, not listening to a single word she said. The nurse held up a hoof.

"We can't have anybody back here right now."

"Where is she?"

"Please, miss, we're doing everything we can to-"

"_Where?"_ Rarity was screaming now. Nurse Redheart tried one last time to reason with the unicorn who was almost right on top of her.

"I'm going to need you to come with me to the waiting room…"

She got no further. Rarity took a running step forward, trying to squeeze past Nurse Redheart. The other mare was ready. She jumped in front of Rarity, blocking her path, but Rarity paid her no heed. She bulled into Nurse Redheart with her shoulder and shoved her bodily down the hallway. The nurse recovered quickly, standing up on her hind legs and pushing back at Rarity with her front hooves. The smooth linoleum floor, however, did not give her any traction to work with, and her back hooves slid over the tiles.

"Stop! Help!" Nurse Redheart cried as Rarity practically carried her down the hallway. However, before the unicorn could push any further, another pony came up from behind Rarity, running around and joining Nurse Redheart in pushing back against her.

"Rare! Get a hold of yourself!" Applejack planted three of her legs on the floor, wrapping one around Rarity's chest and holding her at bay. Nurse Redheart took a second's respite to put all four of her hooves on the ground before mirroring Applejack, grabbing hold of Rarity and preventing her from moving any further.

"No! Let me go! Get off me! Get off!" Rarity screamed, not strong enough to overcome both mares resisting her. She tried flailing her hooves at them, but she could barely get her legs off the ground without falling completely over. No matter how much she struggled, she could only move backwards.

"Come on, Rare! Stop!" Applejack grabbed her tighter, jaw clenched with the effort to hold the unicorn at bay. Rarity pushed back with all her might, gasping and panting for air.

"No! Get off! Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Be…"

Without warning, Rarity fell silent. All semblance of resistance suddenly stopped, and Rarity went limp. Nurse Redheart and Applejack felt Rarity's entire body weight begin to fall to the floor, but their firm grip on her kept her steady. The unicorn's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her head lolled to one side, turning into dead weight in the two other mare's hooves.

"Fainted," said Nurse Redheart, helping Applejack lower the unconscious unicorn to the floor. "Not good. Here, help me get her to the bed down the hall!"

To her surprise, Applejack jostled her to the side, stooping down beside Rarity. Nurse Redheart was taken aback.

"No ma'am, s'not necessary. Ah can take care o' her up front till she comes to. Y'all have more important things to worry about." Applejack said, trying to get under Rarity so she could carry her on her back. Nurse Redheart furrowed her brow, shaking her head adamantly.

"No, no. You aren't looking so good, either, miss. Here, just let me-"

"Nah, Ah can handle it," Applejack insisted. She got under her fallen friend, rolling her limp form onto her stomach and lifting Rarity onto her back. "Ah… Ah got it." She puffed with the effort, Rarity's entire weight pressing down onto her. "Ah'll… Ah got her… ah!"

No amount of willpower from the stubborn mare could prevent the onset of total exhaustion. Applejack gave a shout of dismay as her legs buckled underneath her. Rarity's body started sliding off the farm mare's back, but before her head could hit the tile, Nurse Redheart leapt forward, catching the unconscious unicorn in both forelegs and supporting her head.

"She's okay, I caught her!" Nurse Redheart slid herself underneath Rarity's neck, propping her head up on her shoulders. That was a very close call. "Are you alright? Can you get up?" She said with urgency to the collapsed mare.

Applejack lay wheezing on the floor, one of her forelegs tucked into her body and her head lying on the other one stretched out in front of her. Nurse Redheart's support relieved some of Rarity's weight from her back, making it easier for her to catch her breath. The nurse stared at her, waiting for a reply.

"Yeah, Ah'm… just dandy." She lifted her head. "Jes' gimme a sec…"

She brought the extended foreleg back to her body so that she was kneeling on the floor. Nurse Redheart watched with amazement as the farm mare boosted herself up on a set of shaking legs, still somehow managing to support the bottom half of Rarity's body on her back, which was slicked with rainwater and sweat. She couldn't help but admire her determination.

"Ah ain't dropping her again." Applejack said through gritted teeth. "Lead the way."

...

Cold rainwater dripped from Twilight's wings and mane, muddy hoofprints leaving a clear enough trail for her to follow. The storm was finally dying down, but the rain was still quite heavy, and the day was turning into night. She couldn't run too fast lest she lose track of where they were, forced to stare at the ground while she moved. When she finally looked up, she could see that she had already left downtown Ponyville and was approaching its outer limits.

"Where in the world are they going?" Twilight wondered, feeling worry in the pit of her stomach. She could see maybe Applejack being outside right now, but in this type of weather, there was no way Rarity would be out and about unless there was a good reason. That pony avoided mud like the plague.

There were definitely two sets of hoofprints, both moving in the same direction with one overlapping the other. Twilight drew an imaginary line in the dirt, following the general direction of the prints, starting from her hooves and extending straight ahead until…

They led to Ponyville General Hospital. Twilight's stomach did a somersault.

"Uh oh. Not the hospital… this can't be good." Twilight broke into a full gallop, and a third set of hoofprints soon joined the others. Whatever reason they had for coming here in the middle of the pouring rain, Twilight knew it was a good one.

And by good, she meant very, very bad.

…

After being so suddenly awoken, neither filly could relax. Scootaloo continued to gaze at the open hallway in silence, waiting for Applejack, Rarity, or anypony at all to emerge. Applebloom, on the other hand, was pacing from one side of the room to the other, shooting glances down the hallway to see if her sister had returned. It was only total respect for Applejack's wishes that kept Applebloom from leaving the waiting room and following her anyway.

"Oh, what's she doing?" Applebloom pouted, constantly shifting her gaze between the floor in front of her and down the hallway. "She shoulda been back by now, right?"

Scootaloo frowned, rubbing her shoulder with her hoof. "I dunno."

_Swish!_

They both jumped at the sound of the front door sliding open behind them. When they turned around, Twilight was staring right back at them, perplexed and apprehensive. Applebloom raised her eyebrows.

"Twilight?"

"Applebloom? Scootaloo? What are you girls doing here?" She approached them slowly. Neither filly answered her, but they both were obviously startled to see her. Her observant eye caught the tear-stains on Scootaloo's cheeks from where she had been crying recently. "Is your sister here?"

She directed the question at Applebloom. The little filly nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, she's back there, but…" she looked longingly down the hallway, "She told me to stay here, and the nurse said before not to go back there either cuz…"

Applebloom trailed off, falling silent. She eyed her hooves on the floor. Scootaloo still hadn't said anything, staring off at the far wall as though she was afraid to look at Twilight. Both fillies looked more melancholy than Twilight had ever seen them.

"What about Rarity? Is she here, too?"

One nod from Applebloom. "Yeah, she's back there, too. Applejack went with her…"

So, she had been right after all. Still, she needed to know why.

"Why? What are they doing back there? And what are all you girls doing here?" She asked, seriously concerned. Her voice raised in volume with each question she asked.

Scootaloo turned her face away completely, but not before Twilight could notice her eyes were welling up with tears. Applebloom appeared as if she was about to speak, but she closed her mouth again, her lip quivering. Twilight realized her tone might have been a bit overly demanding, so she tried a different approach.

"It's okay, girls. Just tell me what the matter is," Twilight implored, her voice gentler now. She stepped toward them, lowering her head to connect with them at eye level. "It's okay." She tried to reassure them. Both fillies were on the verge of tears, and she didn't want to upset them any more than they already were.

Applebloom wanted to answer Twilight, to just blurt it out to her, but her mouth couldn't form the words. She wanted to pretend that nothing was wrong, that they could just go back and make it so they had never played kickball to begin with, and there was just something about saying it aloud that broke her out of that blissful unreality.

"W-we're here cuz…" Applebloom stammered, gathering the courage to speak. Twilight leaned in close, waiting for her answer with baited breath. "C-cuz… cuz Sw-"

"Sweetie Belle got bit by a rattlesnake!"

Scootaloo finished her friend's answer. The pegasus filly was still looking away from Twlight. Applebloom bit her quivering lip.

The alicorn's face lit up with horror. "Rattlesnake? Oh my gosh." Twilight fell back onto her haunches. If her mane wasn't so wet, it would have stood on end. Only now did it hit Twilight that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were currently a member short.

Being as well-read as she was, Twilight knew plenty about poisons and venom found all throughout Equestria. If a pony was bitten, they would commonly survive the bite if they received proper treatment in time, and fatalities were rare. But Sweetie Belle was only a filly, and the nearly all the fatalities which occurred from rattlesnakes every year were children…

Lost in thought, it took her a second to realize that both fillies were staring at her. She got back to her hooves, and wiped a stray tear from Applebloom's cheek with her hoof.

"I'm so sorry, girls. I had no idea…" She was speaking like she was in a daze. The sight of her two friends running out in the pouring rain, being at the hospital, this sudden revelation from the two solemn fillies in front of her; it all felt like a bad dream.

"That's okay," Applebloom sniffled. Seeing them sad like this, Twilight felt like it was her responsibility to at least try and make them feel better before she just left them there. She put a hoof under Applebloom's chin, gently lifting the filly's head up until they were looking at one another.

"I'm sure Sweetie Belle will be just fine, girls," she consoled them both, looking from one filly to the other. "Don't worry. She'll be okay."

_I think._

"Yeah, we already heard that before," Scootaloo interjected again. The way she stressed the word "that" made Twilight feel uneasy. It was sarcastic, almost mocking in tone and filled with doubt.

[i]Was it something I said?[/i] Twilight thought. Not knowing what else to say and feeling like she was just making things worse, Twilight decided to quit while she was ahead. She her hoof away from Applebloom's chin.

"Yeah… you girls just stay right where you are." Applebloom heard this and pouted. Scootaloo only gave the floor a blank stare as Twilight moved away. "Can you remember which way your sister went?"

Applebloom pointed to her right. "Yeah, that way…but the nurse lady said not to go back there."

Twilight paid the filly's warning no heed. "I'll take my chances."

She galloped down the hallway and around the corner, once again leaving them both there with nothing but each other for company. Applebloom blinked.

"What in the hay is happening? First mah sister and Rarity runs off, and then… hey Scoot?"

The other filly wasn't listening to her. She wasn't even looking in her direction. Her eyes were fixed on the far wall as if they beheld a work of art. Applebloom approached her from behind.

"Scoot?" She tapped the pegasus filly's shoulder. Scootaloo jumped.

"Hm, what? Oh, Applebloom." She finally stopped staring off into space. "Sorry. I just… I was thinking. Did you say something?"

Applebloom was about to repeat everything, but she lost the motivation. She sighed.

"Nah, nevermind. It wasn't important… hey, Scoot?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?" she asked, sidling up next to the pegasus filly. Her friend's detached behavior was not normal, and it was starting to worry her a lot. Scootaloo shrugged indifferently.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She sounded less than convincing.

"You… still thinking about Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom probed deeper, not willing to just let this go just yet. Scootaloo pursed her lips.

"Yeah, sort of. I'm just… I'm fine, okay?" Her eyes wandered back to the wall. "I'm fine."

"Okay, okay," Applebloom retreated back a couple of steps. Not wanting to anger Scootaloo into swearing again, she decided to leave her alone. "Ah'm just gonna sleep over here till somepony comes back. Gosh, Ah'm tired…"

"M'kay."

Scootaloo replied, not even bothering to glance at Applebloom. She was deep in her own mind once again, blocking out everything else around her. The farm filly hopped up on the cushioned waiting room seats and lied down. Closing her eyes, she drifted off, her aching body welcoming the rest.

Scootaloo waited a minute before she finally took a look over her shoulder at where Applebloom had bedded down. She could see her friend was already fast asleep, curled up on the cushions and breathing softly. She looked over her other shoulder. Nopony at the front desk. Nopony could see her.

Once she was satisfied that she was alone, Scootaloo lied down, covered her face, and started to sob.

_Swish!_

Scootaloo's face shot up at the sound of the front door opening again, and her bleary eyes focused in on…

"Sp-Spike?"

…

True to form, it did not take long for Twilight to notice little water droplets on the floor, indicating a clear trail where the rain-soaked pair had gone. She followed the trail until she reached the end of the first hallway. It formed a T shape with another hallway, intersecting it in the center. Twilight searched the floor for the liquid trail, and went down the hall to the right.

"Applejack? Rarity? Are you down here?" She called down the hallway. No reply. She groaned.

"Ugh, where are you?" She whispered. Every time she passed a room, she looked inside, only to discover it was unoccupied. Ponyville was a small town, and flu season had subsided for springtime allergies, so it came as no surprise that the hospital was not very busy.

_And it's a good thing it isn't. They have enough to deal with right now,_ Twilight ascertained.

Her hoof made a small splash under her. She froze in place, looking down to see a puddle of rainwater in the middle of the hallway. Examining it, it looked like one of them had stopped in the middle of the hallway and stood in place. She wrinkled her snout in puzzlement.

"Huh? What the…"

Down the hall, she heard a door unlatch. A nurse, whom Twilight recognized as Nurse Redheart, emerged from the room, closing the door behind her. She walked at a swift pace further down the hall, away from Twilight. It appeared she was in a hurry, and she didn't even notice Twilight standing right down the hall on the other side.

"Um, excuse me?" Twilight tried to get her attention. The nurse halted in her tracks, whirling around. She saw Twilight, and her hoof went up to clutch her chest from surprise.

"Oh, I, uh… Hello, Princess." She removed her nurse's cap and prepared to bow, but Twilight shook her head fiercely.

"Oh, no no no, don't worry about all that," she said hurriedly. "I wanted to ask you if you knew where two of my friends went."

Nurse Redheart put her cap back on her head, looking inquisitively at Twilight. "Two friends, you say? Was one of them a crazy white unicorn and the other one named Applejack?"

Twilight's face lit up at the mention of Applejack's name. "Yes, that's them! Do you know where I could—wait, crazy…?"

Nurse Redheart pointed to the room she just came out of. "They're both right inside, Princess. The unicorn fainted and I was leaving to get her some water, and Applejack is trying to get her to come to. You can go on in."

Twilight nodded graciously. "Thank you so much, Nurse Redheart. And you can just call me Twilight in the future, okay?" She made a motion toward the door, but before she opened it, she hesitated.

"Sorry, just one more question," she said. Nurse Redheart was already almost out of sight, but Twilight got her attention just in time.

"Yes, Pri-Twlight?"

Twilight gulped. "H-how's Sweetie Belle?"

This time, it was Nurse Redheart's turn to gulp. So the Princess did know about everything.

"She's… we're giving her antivenom, and Doctor Scopes has her under close observation. We're doing all we can," she concluded.

Twilight gave her a single nod in thanks. "Appreciate it, Nurse Redheart."

Nurse Redheart returned the gesture, feeling honored that Twilight knew her name, and went back to business, leaving Twilight standing next to the door. She grimaced.

_Neither good nor bad news. Means they don't know what is going to happen._

She used her telekinesis to open the door, surrounding the doorknob with a purple aura from her horn, and stepped inside.

Rarity was laying on a hospital bed at the far end of the room. Her back hooves lay elevated on a pillow to allow blood flow to her head, and she was not moving at all. Applejack had her back to the door, leaning over Rarity and shaking her lightly with one hoof. Twilight also noted that she was missing her hat.

"She still ain't back yet, nurse," she said, turning to face the door. "She's got a…"

Her jaw fell open when she saw Twilight standing in the doorway. "Twilight! What in tarnation are you doing here?"

…

Spike leaned over with his hands on his knees, breathing so raggedly that he couldn't speak. He held up a claw, motioning for Scootaloo to give him a second while he caught his breath. Scootaloo jumped to her hooves, frantically drying her eyes.

"Spike? Di-i-id you follow Twilight?" She stuttered, but kept her sobs at bay. That was when she noticed the cowboy hat, unmistakably Applejack's, clutched in Spike's claws. It was battered and sopping wet, water trickling in a visible stream to the floor.

"Hold… on… lemme just… gimme a… second…" He staggered forward, holding his ribs with both claws, pressing the bill of Applejack's hat onto his belly scales. "I'm… ugh…" He groaned.

"Hmmm…What's going on? Who's there?" Applebloom yawned, awakened from her precious few minutes of sleep by all of the commotion. She opened her eyes, and saw the dragon hunched over in front of the door. "Spike?"

"Yeah, that's me." The dragon coughed into a clenched fist, his other arm wrapped around his torso with the hat still clenched in his fingertips. "I followed Twilight here…"

"Hey, that's mah sister's hat!" Applebloom jabbed a hoof at the object in Spike's hand. He looked down at the hat, and slapped it against his hand, moving to where Applebloom was laying down on the cushioned seat.

"Yeah, it must've got blown away in the storm… and it hit me in the face while I was running around… don't know why it was outside, but I thought I'd hold onto it." He said with a little more air in his lungs. He handed it to her. "Here."

Applebloom bit into the bill with her teeth and took it from him. The hat sagged down from the weight of the rainwater as she held it in her mouth. "Fanks," She said with the hat still in her teeth before she dropped it onto the seat beside her.

"No biggie." He took a step back, looking at both fillies now. He rubbed his scaly chin with his thumb and index finger, stroking an invisible goatee. "So… what the heck are you guys doing at the hospital? For that matter, why's anypony here right now? This is where Twilight came, right?"

"Yeah, she came here just a minute ago." Scootaloo said this time, with a somber tone.

Right away, he could tell his question had struck a nerve. Scootaloo's eyes were glassy and red, and it was readily apparent that she was either trying not to cry, or she had been crying a short time ago. Applebloom's ears drooped, and her countenance, momentarily elated with the discovery of her sister's hat, fell back down.

"Oh no. Is somepony hurt?"

"Uh huh…"

"Who? Who's hurt?" He stood on tiptoe, a cloud of worry descending down on him. Scootaloo didn't want to drag it out, so she just broke the news to him as quickly as possible.

"Sweetie Belle. A rattlesnake bit her on the leg," She said matter-of-factly, but the sadness was still there.

"WHAT?" Spike's hand covered his mouth in shock. He started asking questions one after the other.

"Oh my gosh! Is she okay? What's happening right now? Where is she? Is she gonna be okay?"

Applebloom moaned. "I dunno anything. Applejack told me that the nurse told her it was gonna be okay, but then she ran back there with Rarity and told me an' Scoot to stay here, and they've been gone for a long time, and then Twilight came in, and then you came in, and…"

The words were spilling out of the filly's mouth a mile a minute, but Spike had stopped listening to her as soon as he heard Rarity's name. He took a running step forward.

"Rarity? Where? I'm going to find out where they went!" He was already disappearing down the hall. Applebloom hopped down from the seat, waving her hooved akimbo.

"Wait, Spike! They told us-"

But her warning came too late. Spike was already gone, running blindly down the halls of the hospital.

"…to stay here."

Applebloom face-hooved. "Ugh. Now what are we going to do, Scoot?"

The pegasus filly sat on the floor, looking down the hallway. Without saying a word, she got up, and trotted into the forbidden hallway.

"What are you doing? She told us to-"

"I want to know what's going on. I can't take it anymore." Scootaloo looked back at Applebloom. "Come on."

"B-but…"

"Come on!"

Scootaloo followed in Spike's footsteps, leaving Applebloom all by herself. The yellow filly hesitated for several seconds, putting up a resistance, but the temptation at last got the better of her.

"Hey, wait up! I'm comin, too!"

…

Twilight took a spot beside the bed, looking over Rarity's unconscious form. "I saw you girls running out in the middle of the big storm, and I thought something looked fishy, so I decided to investigate. So, I followed your hoofprints here." She rubbed a hoof over Rarity's forehead. "How's Rarity?"

"She's just unconscious, but a little the worse for wear." Applejack affirmed. "Poor girl fainted on me and Nurse Redheart when she came in here."

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, Nurse Redheart told me all about it. Called her a 'crazy white unicorn.' What's up with that?"

Applejack leaned in with Twilight, checking Rarity's pulse with her hoof. "Yeah, I don't blame her. Rarity went pretty loony when I told her about her sister… do you already know about all that, Twi?" She grimaced, hoping to Celestia that she wouldn't have to break the news to another pony.

"Yeah, Applebloom and Scootaloo already told me when I came, and Nurse Redheart said they're doing all they can. I'm so sorry, Applejack." She put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. Applejack lightly brushed it off, busying herself once again with trying to revive Rarity.

"Thanks, but I ain't the one who needs sympathy right now. Rarity, those poor girls, they're the ones that… oh mah gosh, I totally forgot about them! I just left them there all by themselves! Agh, I'm such an idiot!" Applejack berated herself. Twilight saw how upset her friend was getting, and tried her best to calm her back down.

"No, no, I'm sure they're fine by themselves, AJ. You've got Rarity you've been worrying about. You didn't do anything wrong by leaving them there," Twilight consoled. Applejack considered what Twilight said, and she calmed back down. Still, she wasn't satisfied.

"Yeah, that may be, but I still think I would feel better if they knew everything was still alright." Applejack bit her lip. "Those fillies are probably worrying like crazy, wondering where we've all been for so long…"

The door opened up again, and Nurse Redheart came inside, rolling a cart into the room with a large pitcher of water and a few glasses on the top. She looked over at Rarity, who hadn't moved an inch since they had set her down. She sighed.

"Still hasn't come to, huh? Well, it'll happen soon. I checked all her vitals, and she's doing just fine. Are you ladies thirsty?" She gestured to the pitcher of water on the cart. Only at the sight of water did Applejack start to feel just how dry her mouth really was. She hadn't had anything to drink since she had taken Sweetie Belle to the hospital.

"Actually, Ah think I'd like some o' that, if you don't mind," she said. Twilight stuck by Rarity while Applejack filled up a glass with the water and chugged it down like she'd been stuck in the desert. Nurse Redheart smiled at her.

"Yeah, I bet you would. After everything you've done today, I'm surprised you didn't faint and end up on the bed right there with her."

Applejack simply shrugged off the compliment. "Yeah, well, it's just what you gotta do, you know? Nothing complicated about it."

Twilight grinned. _Yep, that's Applejack, alright_.

Nurse Redheart watched as Applejack downed an entire glass, and went for more from the pitcher. She retreated back a step, making her way back to the now open door.

"I think I'm going to get another one, just to be on the safe side." She chuckled. "We want to have enough for Rarity when she finally comes around."

"Mmhm." Applejack mumbled while drinking a second full glass of water. Nurse Redheart entered the hallway, but just as soon as she had gone, she came back in.

"Um, ladies? I think you have some more visitors." She stepped back out. Twilight looked away from Rarity for a second, and Applejack ceased drinking, setting the half-filled glass back onto the cart.

"'More visitors?' Who in the hay is she talking about?"

Nurse Redheart stepped back out for a second, and called out, "It's okay, they're all right in here."

The soft pitter-patter of hooves and feet could be heard approaching. Nurse Redheart stepped aside, and Scootaloo and Applebloom both walked into the room, looking guilty.

"I thought I told y'all to stay put," she chided. Applebloom didn't match her sister's stare.

"Yeah, sorry, sis… We all just got so worried, so Scootaloo went looking for ya and I thought I should go with her, too, so... 'm sorry," she said without any further explanation. Scootaloo glanced over at Applebloom, looking indignant.

"Hey, wait just a sec. I only left the waiting room because Spike ran off looking for Twilight…"

"Spike?" Twilight cut Scootaloo off. "You said Spike was here, too?"

"Go on, go in. Don't be shy," Nurse Redheart said to someone else behind the door frame. Sure enough, Spike shuffled inside, clasping his hands behind his back and teeter-tottering back and forth on his toes nervously.

"I thought I told _you_ to stay at the library." She fixed him with a glare. Spike smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, well, you know… Is that Rarity? Whoa, is she okay?" He quickly changed the subject, but still nonetheless voiced genuine concern. Twilight rolled her eyes, but smiled inwardly.

"Yeah, she fainted. Right now, we're trying to—"

"Unh…"

A sound issued from the bed behind them. They all froze in place.

Rarity's eyes opened.

**Author's Note: Hello once again, ladies and gents. I'm hoping this chapter is up to par with the rest, and I'm also hoping it was eventful enough to keep things interesting. **

**And also, if you notice a decline in writing quality, it might be due to the fact I've had a fever/stomach virus thing for a little while now and have not been able to get very comfortable when I'm typing at the keyboard. If it didn't do anything to affect the quality, then HUZZAH. But as usual, if you see anything that sucks, lemme know! **

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Guilt

It was the kind of darkness where the more you tried to adjust to it, the darker it grew. Darkness that felt thick like a heavy fog, so dense you could stir it with a spoon. Voices echoed in the void, indistinct, yet somehow familiar. They came from every direction, starting from afar, and getting closer. Getting louder.

"…Rar…ity…"

A voice reverberated in the darkness. She knew that word. It was a name. Her name. She peered into the murky fog, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find the source.

"…fainted…ing to…"

_Fainted_…

The rain, the thunder, the pounding of her hooves over the muddy earth. Light from rows of windows glowing in the distance, brightly lit hospital halls, cries of desperation, and a fade to black. Fragments of the past all pieced back together into one rolling memory.

She was awake.

…

Nopony said a word. Twilight held her breath, watching Rarity's now open eyes peering up at the ceiling. Her limbs were not moving at all, but her chest noticeably rose and fell with greater vigor as her lungs tried to feed her frail body the energy to sustain consciousness. Eyeballs moving in their sockets, she took in her unfamiliar surroundings without moving her head. She could see Twilight, along with Applejack, her sister's friends, and Spike all standing in the doorway, watching her.

Nurse Redheart was the first one brave enough to move. She nudged the cart with the pitcher of water forward very gingerly, pushing it over to Rarity's bedside. The unicorn rolled her head over at the sound of the squeaking wagon wheels. Nurse Redheart watched her closely. She hadn't forgotten their confrontation from before.

"Where… did you put me?" Rarity croaked. Nurse Redheart reacted quickly, scurrying over to the bed and held Rarity down with one gentle hoof as the unicorn tried to get up from the bed.

"Stay right there," she ordered in a near-whisper. Rarity was too weak to resist the hoof pressing on her chest, so she gave in and laid back down on the bed. "You fainted, so Applejack and I carried you to a bed. That's where you are right now." Rarity's bloodshot eyes were directed right at her, but she did not say a word. Nurse Redheart filled one of the glasses with the pitcher of water and brought it over to Rarity.

"Here, sit up," Nurse Redheart propped her head up by sliding a hoof under Rarity's head. "Drink this." She held the full cup to Rarity's lips. The unicorn stared at the cup for a few seconds, as though she were trying to discern whether or not the nurse was trying to poison her, but eventually placed her lips on the rim of the glass and took a slow, drawn out sip.

However, once the edge of the glass left her lips, Rarity was suddenly bombarded with the sensation of sandpaper grinding against the inside of her throat. Pushing herself up off the bed with her foreleg, she leaned forward and began swallowing the water in huge gulps, desperate to quench her raging thirst. But before she could drink the entire glass, Nurse Redheart pulled it away.

"Slower. You'll make yourself sick." She held Rarity back with her other hoof, speaking as calmly as possible. "Just take one sip at a time."

Rarity pushed back against Nurse Redheart's restraining hoof, but it was no use. She let her body fall back with a deep exhale, and at once the nurse brought the water back to her parched lips.

"That's it. One sip at a time," she encouraged, tilting the glass gradually until all the water was gone. She peeled the glass away from the unicorn's dry lips once the last drop had trickled into her mouth and proceeded to refill it, using up the rest of the water in the pitcher.

Spike migrated to the front of the group, holding himself back from running over to Rarity's bedside to ask if she was alright. The more glimpses he got of Rarity, the more terrible her appearance became; the distinctive of dried sweat coating her body and the state of her mane and tail made her look as though she had not cared for herself in many days. It was unnerving for him to see her like this.

"Is Rarity okay?" Spike whispered in Twilight's ear. Twilight looked down at her assistant, who was staring at the scene before him in slack-jawed worry. She smiled, wrapping a hoof around him.

"Yes, Spike, she's going to be fine. You don't need to worry about her," she whispered back, patting Spike's head. "She just fainted, that's all. She's fine."

Rarity was on her second glass, taking a deep breath through her nose in between every sip. Her eyes were closed. For a moment, there was nothing in her world but her and the water soothing her burning tongue. Only a moment.

"I'll be right back," said Nurse Redheart as Rarity drank the last few drops. She put the cup on the cart and carefully laid Rarity's head back down on the pillow. "I'll leave you all here for a minute while I get some more."

Twilight and the rest of the gang stepped out of the way to let Nurse Redheart through. Once she had left, they all came over to Rarity's bedside, with Spike in the lead.

"Oh man, are you okay, Rarity?" Spike stood right next to her head, digging into the side of the mattress with his claws. Rarity saw Spike standing next to her, eyes wide with concern, and for the first time that day her lips cracked a smile.

"H-hey, Spikey Wikey," she called Spike by her pet name for him, making his cheeks turn red. She reached over and tweaked his headscales. "Yes, I-I'm fine. Terribly thirsty, though…"

"Well, after running like that, you should be, Rares," commented Applejack. She and the two fillies took a spot next to Spike. "Y'all ran so hard you nearly ran yourself into the ground."

Immediately, Rarity's smile disappeared. She closed her eyes, plopping her head back onto the pillow. Her voice carried a sort of bitterness with it that put everyone in the room at unease.

"And I'm sure that you would have done the same thing had it been _your_ sister who was dying in the hospital, Applejack."

The very mention of Sweetie Belle dying hit Applebloom and Scootaloo hard. Applebloom closed her eyes to prevent a fresh batch of tears from escaping and Scootaloo went back to looking stoically at the floor. From her place at the foot of Rarity's bed, Twilight noticed the distraught fillies almost immediately.

"Dying? Oh no, no, Rarity. Nurse Redheart told me they have antivenom, so Sweetie Belle's chances of survival are very high."

The statement was true, but nonetheless made with the intent of giving the fillies some hope that their friend would make it out okay. It appeared to have a positive effect on the girls, but Rarity was still not comforted in the slightest.

"But what if something else happens? What if I can't see her and then she…" Rarity trailed off, not wanting to say the dreaded word once more.

"I know this must be hard for y'all, Rarity," Applejack interjected, "but if y'all, or any of us got in the way, we'd just be doing more harm than good. The nurse said so."

"But I need to see her… you don't understand…" Her voice broke. "You don't understand."

Twilight grimaced, empathizing with her friend's pain. "I know, Rarity. We all know how hard this must be. I can't imagine how this must feel—"

"No." Rarity sat up in the bed, fixing Twilight with a frightening glare. "No, you don't. You don't know. None of you do!" Rarity's erupted, taking them all off guard. Angry tears streamed from her now open eyes in rivulets. "You don't know anything at all! You…"

No sooner had the words left her mouth that she was overcome with dizziness. With a low groan, she put a hoof to her forehead and fell back down onto the mattress with a cushioned thud. Seeing her collapse, Spike went into action.

"Oh no, did she faint again?" He hopped up on the bed, kneeling beside her. He reached out to touch Rarity's face to see if she was still conscious, but got his answer when Rarity weakly batted his hand away.

"No, I—I'm awake." She pressed both forelegs on either side of her head, trying to stop the spinning sensation which had taken a hold of her. Everybody watched her without uttering a word.

.

A little while went by before the dizziness finally subsided. She stopped pressing on her head, and when her eyes opened, she was looking straight at Applejack.

"I'm sorry, everypony… Applejack," her voice dropped to a whisper, "I… I need to talk to you. Alone. Please."

The farm mare stared back into Rarity's pleading eyes. She glanced over at Twilight, who nodded her head in approval, and faced Rarity again.

"Sure, Rare. That's fine by me." She turned to Applebloom and Scootaloo beside her. "Now, I'm gonna need you girls to go with Twilight while Ah talk with Rarity, alright?"

Applebloom frowned at the prospect of being separated from her sister yet again, but they both replied in the affirmative. "Mmhm."

"Good. Now go with Twilight back to the waiting room for a bit, okay? We'll meet you there." She nudged them toward the purple alicorn, who took them by the hoof. "You got 'em, Twi?"

"Yeah I got them. Come on, girls." She led them to the door. That's when she noticed Spike, still kneeling on the mattress. "You too, Spike."

"Aw, do I have to?" He whined. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Yes, you do. Come on." She wrapped him in an aura of magic and levitated him over to her. He looked back forlornly at Rarity, but didn't say anything else in protest.

Before they could leave, however, they were stopped by the sound of Nurse Redheart's cart rolling down the hallway. She held them out of the way as Redheart strolled in, pushing a cart containing a brand new pitcher of water over to Rarity's bedside.

"I'm back." She stopped the cart closer to the foot of Rarity's bed. Noticing Twilight and the others leaving the room behind her, she looked at Applejack with her eyebrows raised in puzzlement. "What's going on?"

Applejack touched the other mare on the shoulder in a gesture of gratefulness. "I appreciate all the work y'all have been doing, nurse… but Rarity asked me if she could talk to me in private. I hope that's okay."

As she spoke, Rarity petitioned Nurse Redheart with a watery gaze. The nurse looked down at the hoof on her shoulder, and her lips parted into a smile. She patted the orange mare's outstretched foreleg.

"Of course it's okay. I'll leave you two alone."

She wasted no time in going. She left the full pitcher of ice water and the two mares behind, closing the door to the room behind her. Once she was gone, Applejack took a seat next to Rarity.

"I'm all ears, Rare."

…

Twilight led Spike, Applebloom and Scootaloo back to the waiting room. Outside, the storm was coming to an end, but the moon had taken the sun's place over the horizon. Twilight gasped.

"Oh my gosh, it's already night time?" she asked herself in disbelief. Just then, the thought occurred to her; Applebloom was here with Applejack, but Scootaloo's mom and dad were nowhere to be found.

"Does your mom or dad know you're here right now, Scootaloo?" She said to the pegasus filly to her left. Scootaloo shook her head.

"No…"

"No!" Twilight panicked. "Oh my gosh, they must be worried sick! I gotta go tell them what's going on—"

"My dad's not home. I'm home alone right now." Scootaloo hastily interrupted. In an instant, Twilight felt a wave of relief wash over her. But at the same time, something felt off; Scootaloo, still a young filly, was home alone? With no foalsitter?

"Oh. Well, then..." she cleared her throat, "did he say when he was getting back?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "Dunno. He just left today, so…" She sat down on the bench. Twilight wrinkled her snout.

"So you don't know?"

Scootaloo shrugged again. "Not tonight. I know that much."

Twilight opened her mouth, about to ask another question, but out of her peripheral vision she noticed Spike staring right at her with a cautionary look. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head, silently telling her to drop the issue. She took his wordless warning seriously and closed her mouth before another question could escape.

"Oh. So… crisis averted, I guess," she said with an exhale. Her attention shifted to all three of them. "And I'm so sorry, guys. For everything. If you guys want to talk, I'm right here," she offered.

Applebloom wiped her snout. He head was so low it was practically scraping the tiles. "That's okay… y'all ain't the one who should be sorry."

The filly looked like she had just been sentenced to death, appearing more ashamed and sorry than Twilight had ever seen.

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't your fault she got bit. It was… mine."

"No, it wasn't just you. It was me, too." added Scootaloo from behind her, hiding her face in her hooves. "It's kind of both of our faults…"

Twilight looked at them like they each had two heads. "What are you girls talking about?"

…

Upon seeing the new pitcher of ice water, Rarity had taken a moment to soothe her parched throat before she spoke. She levitated the glass to her lips, took a few swigs, set the glass down, and repeated the cycle.

Applejack's tail swished from side to side on the hard floor while she waited. She reached her hoof up to adjust her hat nervously, but her hoof only touched her mane.

_Oh yeah. Forgot about that._ She set her hoof back down to the floor with a sulk. Without her hat, she felt like a part of her was missing. Rarity levitated the now empty glass to the cart and set it down on top. Applejack pointed to the pitcher.

"Y'all want some more, Rares?"

"No, that's quite enough." She coughed into her foreleg. "I've had more than I deserve already."

Applejack tilted her head. "More than you deserve? What the hay are you going on about?"

Rarity did not answer right away. She bit her quivering lip. Applejack leaned on the mattress.

"Come on, Rarity. Ah'm here for ya. Talk to me. Y'all can talk to me about anything, Sugarcube."

It was as though her speaking had ignited a small flame of anger inside her friend. The unicorn's teeth gritted together.

"Don't call me 'Sugarcube,'" she growled. Applejack was taken aback by Rarity's sudden change in demeanor. Unease built up in the pit of her stomach and she shifted uncomfortably.

"S-s-sorry, Rare. Ah didn't know you hated it so much."

Just as quickly as it had arrived, her anger went away. She shook her head, sighing with exasperation. "No, I don't, it's just—I don't deserve it. The sympathy, the water, nothing. All this was my own doing. I should have been the one who was bitten, not her…" She took in a shuddering breath, shutting her eyes.

"Now, now, Rarity, that ain't no way to talk." Applejack approached her, looking her dead in the eye. "Ah know y'all would trade places with your sister in a heartbeat if you could. Ah'd want to do the same if it were my sister. But none of this was your doing, or anypony else's."

Rarity covered her face with both hooves. Her head was shaking back and forth on the pillow.

"No, Applejack. You're wrong… I did something."

The words hung ominously in the air. Applejack's eyes widened at the statement; it was simple, yet vague enough to conjure up any and every horror imaginable. Rarity sat up against the headboard, inhaling and exhaling rapidly.

"What'd you do?" Applejack dared to ask.

Tears spilled silently out of the corners of Rarity's closed eyes. Her breath caught in her chest, but she forced herself to speak.

"This weekend… I was working on a new project. It was a series of dresses for an exhibition in Canterlot. The exhibition was only a few days away, so I spent the entire weekend making it. Two days straight, but I finally finished it this morning." She shook her head with regret. "Sweetie Belle kept telling me that I was… wearing myself out. I didn't listen to her. I thought I could handle it, but… this morning…"

She stopped to take another set of deep breaths. Applejack waited patiently for Rarity to pull herself together before she was able to continue.

"…This morning, Sweetie Belle went out to play with her friends. I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud crash upstairs. I ran up to the workroom to investigate… and everything was ruined. Sweetie Belle had accidentally kicked a ball through the window, and it hit one of the dresses in the lineup, and everything just fell over and… oh Applejack," she squeaked, "I got so angry."

Rarity was making a valiant effort not to cry, but she was starting to lose the battle. Applejack listened wordlessly; she recalled the story Applebloom and Scootaloo had told her, and was quickly putting the pieces together.

"When she came upstairs, I was so furious… I _screamed_ at her. Do you know what I said?" she whimpered. It was taking everything in her power to hold back the tears. "I told her to get out. I told her I didn't care, Applejack. She said she was sorry, but I-I didn't care. And then… I told her to leave and never come back…"

Applejack's jaw went slack with shock. She could never even imagine saying something so terrible to her own sister.

"So she ran away… that's why she was on the Acres and she…" Applejack didn't finish the sentence.

"Sh-she ran away, Applejack," Rarity stuttered, sucking in one last breath of air, "and… _she never came back!_"

Despair and guilt overwhelmed her. She wailed with anguish, snot and tears soaking the bedsheets she pressed to her face. For once, Applejack could not find any advice to give, any consolation to offer her friend. All of Rarity's guilt, all of her self-hatred; it all made sense.

"Sh-she l-loved me, and I _disowned_ her! And now she's suffering, and… it's all my fault!" Rarity sat hunched over against the headboard, rocking her body from side to side like a baby foal. Applejack felt tears springing to her own eyes as she leaned forward, wrapping her forelegs around Rarity's shivering form in a compassionate hug.

"Oh Rarity," Applejack whispered. "Ah didn't know…"

…

Applebloom and Scootaloo had taken turns retelling to Twilight the same story they had told Applejack, with Spike standing off as a silent spectator. The alicorn refrained from asking questions and listened carefully; the girls looked like they were melting into a puddle on the floor.

"And that's why if we didn't make her play with us, nothin' woulda happened," Applebloom concluded the tale with a sniffle.

"And it was my idea to play behind Rarity's in the first place, so if I hadn't—"

"Girls, stop, please," Twilight interrupted Scootaloo, holding up her hoof. They fell quiet, staring at her with watery eyes as though she was about to send them to some hidden dungeon under her library.

"Now, girls, I can understand why you would feel guilty about Sweetie Belle," she said, bending down until she was at eye level with the two fillies, "and maaaaybe it wasn't the smartest idea to play kickball so close to somepony's house, but it's not your fault that Sweetie Belle got hurt. There's no reason to feel like you caused what happened, okay?"

Applebloom and Scootaloo stared back at her with disbelief. "B-but… if we didn't…"

"Shhh." Twilight placed a hoof over Applebloom's lips. "Listen to me, both of you. No matter what happens, _none_ of this was your fault. You were just being good friends and trying to cheer poor Sweetie up, that's all. Nopony, and I mean _nopony_ could have foreseen any of this. You girls did nothing wrong. Okay?"

She looked directly into their eyes. Seeing all of the guilt that had been pent up inside them, guilt which led them to believe they were the reason why their friend was suffering, made her heart ache. It was an awful burden for anypony to carry, let alone somepony their age.

"Okay…" They finally agreed, wiped their eyes and snouts. They were holding their heads up higher now, the terrible burden of guilt starting to fall from their shoulders. Twilight smiled.

"Okay, good. Now come here; you girls look like you could use a hug." She sat down and spread her forelegs wide, pulling them into her body. They welcomed the hug, closing their tear-stained eyes with momentary peace and contentment.

Spike's feet fidgeted as he watched the hug from his place a few steps away. Twilight noticed him standing there, awkwardly watching the tender moment from afar.

"Hey, you can have a hug too, you know." She invited him over. He stepped back, holding up his hands with palms facing outward.

"Nahhh. That's okay, I don't want… whooaaaa!" he exclaimed in surprise as he was suddenly levitated off the ground by her magic. Twilight brought him into the hug, rubbing the side of her face against his cheek with motherly affection.

"See? Boys need hugs, too," she said, making his cheeks flush red with embarrassment. Applebloom and Scootaloo giggled.

"Alright, alright, you can put me down now, sheesh," he said, annoyed. Twilight gave him a look of mock dejection.

"Really? Well, if you say so." She hovered him back down to the floor. He turned away from her and crossed his arms over his chest, making an effort to hide a smile which was creeping up on his face.

"Okay, I think that's enough for now," Twilight let the two girls go. She could already tell from looking at them that they were doing better. "Are you still feeling guilty from before?"

They shook their heads. She smiled warmly.

"Good. Now, let's all just take a seat and relax until Applejack and Rarity come back."

…

Piercing wails had given way to silent weeping, and Rarity's chest and shoulders heaved with every strangled sob. Applejack was on the bed with her, holding onto her tight and whispering sweet nothings into her ear while she thought of something, anything to say. The farm mare leaned in closer as Rarity began to speak, her voice slightly muffled by the sheets.

"I want her to know I'm s-sorry. I want… I want her to know her sister loves her before it's too late."

Applejack patted Rarity's back, resting her chin on her friend's shoulder. "It's not gonna be too late, Rare. You'll get the chance."

"How do you know?" Rarity retorted, looking back at her with a single, red eye. "How? She was bitten by a _rattlesnake_, Applejack! A rattlesnake that could kill a stallion, let alone a sweet innocent filly like her!"

"And they got the antivenom." Applejack calmly reassured her. "The Doctor, Nurse Redheart, and all the rest of 'em are working full throttle to make sure Sweetie's gonna be okay. They said so."

"But they still don't know, Applejack! Something could go wrong and… she'll die thinking her I hate her. Me, her own sister…"

Applejack opened her mouth to speak, about to say some more reassuring words, when Rarity's words hit her fully. She gazed at the mattress distantly, pondering her friend's words. No matter how soothing she could try to be, no matter how much she insisted that Sweetie Belle would be alright, there was still nothing she could guarantee. No promises she could make.

The silence was deafening. Rarity half-expected Applejack to immediately refute her, to tell her that Sweetie Belle wasn't going to die and that everything was going to be alright. But her friend said nothing of the sort. She heard her friend sigh, and felt the other mare's breath tickle the side of her face.

"Y'all are right, Rare. Ah don't know. Nopony knows. And as much as Ah want to guarantee Sweetie Belle will live through this… Ah just can't." She closed her eyes. "Ah wish Ah could, but all Ah'd be doing is lying to you an' making a promise Ah can't keep."

Rarity's breathing stopped, and she held the air in her lungs. Despair loomed over her like a boulder, ready to smash her to pieces.

But Applejack was not done.

"But Ah will tell you this." She hugged her around the base of her neck, gently pulling Rarity's head into her neck and cradling it in her forelegs. "Sweetie Belle doesn't blame you, Rare. She doesn't. You said things, awful things, but… it wasn't nopony's fault that this happened. And if she goes to heaven tonight…" She inhaled sharply. "…she'll be looking down at you, and she'll see… she'll see a sister that loves her. She'll see a sister who's sorry. And… and she'll be smiling down at you all the same."

There was not a sound in the room for several minutes. Neither pony moved a muscle as what had been said resonated over and over again. The words had left her mouth almost subconsciously; Applejack had barely even known what she was saying.

That was when she felt the first hot tear trickle onto her hoof. It was joined by another, and another, all fresh. Rarity twitched in Applejack's grasp. Her lip trembled.

And then, without warning, Rarity tore herself away and spun around with her forelegs spread wide, enveloping Applejack in a hug of her own. She cried anew, squeezing Applejack so tight that it hurt. Applejack began to cry right along with her, hugging Rarity back like she was never going to let go.

"Oh, Applejack…I-I love her so much!" Rarity bawled into her shoulder. The orange mare smiled through her tears, running a hoof through Rarity's sweat-soaked mane.

"She knows, Rarity. She knows."

…

**Author's Note:**

**Author's Note: So, I was planning on updating this thing a few days ago, and I had spent about a day of frenzied writing in an attempt to pump out another chapter in a decent time. I was so happy that I had managed to finish a whole chapter in only one day, and I was about to press send when I decided to just read over the whole thing from beginning to end.**

**It was absolutely, positively, the most cheesy, campy, melodramatic pile of COW SHIT I have ever written. It was so bad that I felt compelled to rewrite nearly the entire thing from top to bottom, which also explains the long time it took to update. Hell, this current chapter may still be cheesy, I dunno, but it's still better than it was before. **

**If it **_**is**_** still bad, don't hesitate to let me know. I'll rewrite this thing a million times if that's what it takes to make it not suck. Ugh. **

**Hope this chapter was as good as the others! *fingers crossed* **


	6. Always

Bad news was always a burden, and Nurse Redheart was its bearer.

She could not remember the last time she had been faced with this sort of fear as she walked down the halls. Given Ponyville's small size, it was not often that she worked with anything worse than broken bones or bad cases of feather-flu. This was completely new territory for her.

She removed her nurse's cap and whisked away a drop of sweat from her forehead. Rarity's room was getting closer with every step, and Nurse Redheart braced herself for the worst.

The door was still closed. She crept up to it and pressed her ear against the wood, careful not to make a sound. From inside, she could hear the sound of weeping, intermingled with a series of gasps and sobs.

In an instant, all her nerve went away. She retreated back from the door. How on earth was she supposed to break the news to them now? She could not imagine what effect this would have on the poor unicorn, or on any of them for that matter.

Nurse Redheart stood there, frozen in place. She contemplated, trying to think of ways to tell them that would help soften the blow, but she was met with little success. No matter what she did, the news was going to hit them, and it was going to hit them hard.

Still, there was no way she was going to just barge in and tell them right now, not when they were in such emotionally fragile states. She would have to wait until the right moment, if such a thing even existed.

_Or…_ A thought popped into her head. She recalled that Princess Twilight and Sweetie Belle's friends had left the two mares alone along with her. If she told the Princess first, perhaps the other mare could tell Rarity instead…

No. That was not fair. To transfer her burden onto the Princess's shoulders, especially after Doctor Scopes had left her with the responsibility… that was not right.

But nonetheless, she still had to tell somepony... it was not like there was any way she could hide it, and after already being physically assaulted once by the unicorn, she was worried about what Rarity would do when she found out…

Swallowing with dread, Nurse Redheart made her decision.

…

Twilight was the only one left awake. Totally exhausted from the day's events, Applebloom and Scootaloo slept beside her, curled up on the seat, and Spike, being the baby dragon he was, fell asleep not long afterwards, snoring at Twilight's hooves and clutching his tail to his chest.

His snoring developed a rhythm, turning into white noise in the alicorn's ears. She caught herself nodding off a few times, and it was getting harder and harder to stay awake. She often spent late nights reading or studying without much trouble, but there was no book in front of her right now to keep her mind occupied and alert.

She glanced down at Applebloom and Scootaloo, watching their chests rise and fall to the rhythm of Spike's gentle snores. She was glad that the fillies were able to forget their worries long enough to get some much-needed rest; she hoped dearly, even if only for their sake, that Sweetie Belle would make it. The three fillies were inseparable. And as if that weren't bad enough, she could only imagine what effect it would have on Rarity, her parents…

In the midst of her musings, Twilight did not even notice that she had fallen asleep. Her head lolled off to the side with her eyes closed, and a strand of drool dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

Somepony prodded her on the shoulder, and she awoke with a jerk. In front of her, Nurse Redheart stood with apprehension, eyeing the sleeping fillies and Spike warily. The nurse covered her mouth in a shushing gesture, and beckoned Twilight to follow her with a wave of her hoof.

Twilight looked to her left and right, easing off the bench as quietly as possible to prevent waking them up, and followed the nurse out of the room. Her stomach twinged; if Nurse Redheart wanted to tell her something in private, away from the fillies, it couldn't be good.

She followed until they were far enough down the hallway to not be heard, and Nurse Redheart turned around. Twilight's eyes were wide with concern.

"Yes, Nurse Redheart?"

The other mare gulped, licking her lips. She turned her gaze to the wall. "I have… good news, and bad news, Prin-Twilight." She rubbed her right foreleg up and down with her left. It took her a few seconds to plan out what she was going to say before starting again. "The good news is that Sweetie Belle is responding well to the antivenom, and w-we are expecting her to make a recovery. She'll be open to visitors by morning."

Twilight's face lit up with delight. Her wings did a tiny flutter with elation, and she exclaimed, "Oh, thank Celestia! That's the best news I think I've ever heard! Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"

In a manner most unfitting of her regal status, she reached over and gave Nurse Redheart a bear hug, pulling her bodily towards herself. The nurse just stood there with shock for a second, but slowly brought a hoof up to hug the young Princess back until Twilight let go of her.

"Oh my gosh, this is such good news! I'm so… Nurse?" Twilight noticed how the nurse's somber expression had not changed. That was when she remembered that there was another part to this, one Nurse Redheart had not yet told her. She bit her lip. "W-what's the... bad news?"

Redheart looked up into Twilight's inquiring eyes. Her left hoof went back to rubbing her right leg, and she almost seemed to wince in pain.

"After Sweetie Belle was bitten, somepony… somepony put a tourniquet on her leg…"

Twilight's face lit up again, but this time, it was with horror. It was a commonly held myth that a tourniquet would stop the venom from a snakebite from spreading, but this was not true… Right away, her thoughts honed in on Applebloom; she remembered the filly looked different somehow, but until that moment, she had been unable to figure out why. It suddenly occurred to her that the girl's bow was missing. Her heart sank in her chest as she made the connection.

Nurse Redheart continued. "It had been on her leg for a good while before we could get it off… it was pulled so tightly… and the girl's leg, it… it became gangrenous from the lack of circulation." She felt a knot of warm phlegm building up in her throat. "The tissue death became catastrophic, and… I'm so sorry Princess, but…"

Twilight already knew what she was going to say.

"…She's going to lose her leg."

Twilight was encountered with an onset of dizziness. She fell back onto her rump, holding her head in one foreleg. "Oh my gosh."

Nurse Redheart bowed her head low. "Forgive me, Princess."

"No. No, it's not your fault," she said with a shake of her head. "This is terrible… How long will the whole… process… take?"

"The process itself shouldn't take very long, maybe around an hour or so, but the recovery… that will take much longer. At least until early tomorrow morning. She will not feel a thing, I assure you… I am so sorry."

Twilight did not reply staring down at her own forelegs. She couldn't imagine what her life would be like if she was missing one, but now, a filly she knew was going to have to face that reality every day.

"Nurse… are you _sure_ that this must be done? Are you absolutely certain that there is no other way?"

Nurse Redheart winced. "Y-yes, we are sure. The gangrene has spread at an alarming rate, and we cannot risk having it spread past her leg. There's already too much gone… they may be starting the surgery as we speak. I am sorry." She pressed the hat harder to her chest.

As she was still processing the news, a thought continued to nag at Twilight. She remembered Apple Bloom's missing hair ribbon, and the desire to test her suspicions became greater and greater until she finally asked, "By any chance, Nurse, did this tourniquet… was it a pink ribbon?"

Nurse Redheart cocked her head. "How did you know that?"

Twilight's heart sank. She grimaced, saying with a shaky voice, "Because the ribbon belongs to Apple Bloom… Applejack's little sister."

Nurse Redheart nodded, closing her eyes. "Yes, I… I figured Applejack was behind it. So many ponies think it's a good thing to do, but…" She trailed off.

"Yes, it's a common myth. I'm sure she did it with the best intentions…"

Nurse Redheart breathed out, releasing all the air she had been holding in her lungs.

"Yes. And after everything else she did to save that filly's life, after everything she did to help… she can never know. She did too much for that girl. I think… I think she deserves better than to know the truth."

Hearing this, Twilight could already feel the dull ache of betrayal building in her bones. Holding a lifelong secret from one of her best friends was something she never wanted to do, and the very idea of it made her feel sick to her stomach. But what made it even worse was knowing that Nurse Redheart was right. If Applejack ever found out, she knew that the honest farm mare would never forgive herself. The blame would stick with her until the day she died.

"You're right. We can never tell her."

Her tone was final, confident, but the words tasted like arsenic on her tongue. Nurse Redheart sighed again, but said nothing.

The hallway lights flickered once, and a faint hum sounded from the ventilation shaft as the air conditioning kicked on. It was enough to fill the void of silence, but only for a moment.

"So…R-Rarity still doesn't know?" Twilight probed, changing the subject.

Redheart cringed. "No. I have not told her yet. Or Applejack… Princess?" She shrank back, looking fearful. Twilight regarded her with a perplexed expression.

"Yes, Nurse Redheart?" she replied, ignoring the other mare's reference to her royal title.

"Might I ask… could you please… assist me in telling everypony? I know it is a part of my job, to tell other ponies bad news, and that Doctor Scopes assigned me with the task, but…" She took off her cap, holding it to her chest. "I know it sounds crazy, but I've never had to tell anypony something like this before. We're not used to these sorts of cases here..."

Seeing how worried Nurse Redheart was, Twilight could not help but feel sympathy for the other mare. Knowing how emotionally vulnerable Rarity was, and how horrible this would be for Applebloom and Scootaloo, Nurse Redheart was faced with a scary prospect.

"Of course, Nurse. I will do my best."

Nurse Redheart was elated. She tilted her head back with relief. "Th-thank you, Princess. It means a lot, it really does."

Twilight chuckled despite the seriousness of the conversation. "For goodness sake, I'm years younger than you are, Nurse. You don't have to call me 'Princess' just because I have wings now. Just Twilight, okay?" She requested with a disarming grin. The smile was contagious, and Nurse Redheart was soon grinning right back, a flush of red present on her white cheeks from embarrassment.

"Understood… Twilight."

The purple alicorn walked up next to her, placing her wing on the Nurse's shoulders. "Here, you can come back with me to the front and wait with us. I'll help you when they get here, I promise."

Her tone sounded jovial and easygoing. It was the best she could do to mask her own fear of what was to come.

…

Rarity's tears had long since gone cold, evaporating off of her face until nothing but scarlet, salt-stained streaks were left behind. Applejack held onto her tight, keeping the exhausted unicorn's body from falling to the mattress in a crumpled heap. Her friend's breathing felt hot against her shoulder.

"You alright, hon?" Applejack whispered into her ear. Her hoof did not stop its gentle caress through her mane. Rarity's nose dripped onto her orange fur.

"N-no. No, I'm not. Not until I know Sweetie Belle is safe," she said with a solemn voice. "I don't want her to die, Applejack."

"Ah know, Rare. Ah know." Applejack nuzzled Rarity's neck. It was all she could say. "Nopony does."

Rarity squirmed slightly in her grasp, causing Applejack to loosen her hold on the white unicorn as she readjusted her position, shuffling her hind legs to a more comfortable place on the mattress. Applejack took advantage of the moment to back away from Rarity until she was looking at her face to face.

"Do ya think you're ready to come with me?" she asked.

A short pause ensued before Rarity reluctantly nodded her head yes.

"Okay, Rare. Here," She picked up the sheets with her hoof. "Lemme help you get cleaned up a little."

She brought the sheets up to Rarity's face, but the other mare took them away from her. "No, no, that's quite alright. I can do it myself." She dabbed at her eyes and nose with the corner of the sheet. "Goodness, I must look terrible."

Applejack chuckled. "You and me both, Rare." She turned around and hopped off the edge of the bed, feeling a tingle travel through her legs as the circulation came back to her limbs. They had been sitting in the same spot for a long time.

"Okay, Rare. Ah'll walk with you." She held up a helping hoof. The white unicorn took it and eased herself down from the bed. When she was side by side with Applejack, she turned around and embraced her again.

"Applejack… You're the best friend anypony could ever hope to have." She felt another tear coming, but she whisked it away. "Thank you so much."

Applejack blushed. "D-Don't need to thank me. Ah'm just doing what I gotta do."

"Stop that," Rarity said with exasperation. "You're a hero, Applejack. If Sweetie Belle survives, it's because of you. And if there is anything I can ever do in repayment…"

Applejack rejected the offer outright. "No. Never. Ah'll never ask you to do that."

Rarity smiled inwardly. She knew Applejack would turn her down, but she had every intention to repay her anyway. She did not know when the day would come, but the first chance she got, she would take it.

"I know, I know. But you _are_ a hero. Don't doubt that, please."

Applejack rolled her eyes, but her lips parted into a wide grin. "Alright. Whatever you say, Rare." She took her by the hoof, leading Rarity to the door. "Come on."

…

All it took was an especially loud snore from the sleeping baby dragon to jolt Scootaloo awake.

The pegasus filly's eyes panned around the room. She could see it was still dark outside, and that Applebloom had fallen asleep right next to her. Her ears perked up and angled themselves in the direction of Spike's snoring, which was getting louder by the second, and she popped her head up to get a closer look. The sound of a log being sawn in half greeted her ears each time he stretched his mouth open to take in a breath. She sighed with irritation and plopped the side of her head back down onto the cushioned seat. There were many downsides to being a light sleeper. She had no idea how Twilight could possibly put up with sleeping with him every night…

Her head popped back up, looking at the vacant space on her left. There was an indentation in the seat from where Twilight had been sitting, but she was gone. Scootaloo stared at the dent on the cushion, confirming that she wasn't crazy and that Twilight had indeed been there, before she stood up on the seat.

Applebloom was a light sleeper herself, and the sound of Scootaloo's stirring was enough to wake her up. She noticed Scootaloo was about to jump down onto the floor, and she reached a groggy hoof over to her, touching her on the leg. Scootaloo whirled around, inhaling sharply.

"Whaa! Oh, it's you…" She said in a low voice. Applebloom pushed herself up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Scoot… what're you doin'?" She yawned. Her eyes were half closed. Scootaloo stepped aside, cocking her head at the spot on the seat where Twilight had been before.

"Twilight's gone. I'm gonna go see where she is." Her statement was very matter-of-fact. Applebloom looked at the indicated spot, and sure enough, what Scootaloo said was true. Nonetheless, she pushed herself up and grabbed hold of Scootaloo's tail with her mouth just as the filly was about to leave.

"Scoot, wrait!" She said under her breath, her friend's tail in her mouth. "Twiright said ta stay hewer!"

Scootaloo groaned. "Sheesh, since when did you become such a goody-pony? I'm just going down the hall, relax."

Applebloom spat Scootaloo's tail out of her mouth. "Nah, it ain't a good idea… we might already be in trouble for leavin' earlier…"

Scootaloo shrugged it off. "I'm the one who's gonna check it out, not you. You don't have to worry about it."

But—but…" Applebloom stuttered, but when she thought about it, it made sense. She pouted in defeat. "Fine. Ah still don't think ya should… ugh, whatever. But only check down the hall, okay? Ah don't want ya to get in trouble…"

Scootaloo smirked. "Nah, don't worry 'bout me." She gave her a sheepish smile. "This one's all on me."

She jumped down, but just as she was about to go, she froze. "Do you hear that? Is somepony coming?"

Applebloom listened along with Scootaloo, and sure enough, somepony was approaching down the hallway. "Yeah I hear it, too… I think she's coming back."

As soon as her suspicions were affirmed, Scootaloo abandoned ship and jumped back onto the seat. She laid back down, curling up in the same place she had been before.

"Shh, pretend you're asleep!" She advised her friend with a harsh whisper. Applebloom followed along, laying back down and shut her eyes, trying to relax every muscle in her body to give the convincing impression that she was asleep.

They could hear not one, but two ponies coming into the room, the overlapping of hoofsteps on the hard tiles giving them a clear indication. Applebloom took a peek through a pair of fluttering eyelashes, but she couldn't see anypony directly in front of her. She closed them again.

They were almost right next to them, and neither filly moved a muscle. In all honesty, Applebloom didn't really know why she was pretending to be asleep in the first place. She almost wanted to jump up and shout "Surprise!" but she held her breath, forcing herself not to take another peek.

A wave of cool air suddenly wafted over her head, tickling the tips of her ears.

"Y'all didn't tell me you found my hat."

Applebloom instantly dropped her façade. She and Scootaloo opened their eyes.

Applejack and Rarity stood right there, watching them both with amused grins. Applejack was fanning Applebloom with the bill of her cowboy hat. "Ah found this beauty under the bench." She messed up Applebloom's mane with her other hoof playfully. "Y'all should've told me ya found it!"

Applebloom simpered at her older sister. "Yeah, I guess it just kinda fell under the bench somehow. My bad, sis."

Applejack shook her head with good humor. "Eh, I'm just playin' with ya. _But_," her voice was stern now, "Ah can usually tell when somepony's fakin' being asleep. _Especially_ you. Don't think Ah don't ever know," she teased her little sister.

Applebloom called back a memory from the week before, when her sister had checked up on her to see if she was really asleep after she tried to stay up all night reading a Daring Do book. She'd been faking it then, too…

"Heheh… yeah." Applebloom laughed nervously. Applejack gave her a knowing grin.

"Water under the bridge, sis." She gave her one last pat on the head. She was about to say something more when Rarity jabbed her on the foreleg.

"Shh, quiet… I don't think Spikey's faking it…"

Her word of warning came in too late. Spike's snoring stopped abruptly, and he showed off his reptilian fangs in a gaping yawn, stretching out his arms as he came awake. Applejack cringed.

"Oops… sorry." Her ears fell back on her head. Rarity found herself mesmerized for a moment by Spike's razor sharp incisors, teeth she knew could crack hard gemstones with little effort, before he closed his mouth again.

"Uhh… what's going on…?" He drawled in a manner that suggested he was still half-asleep, smacking his lips. When his eyes opened, Rarity, Applejack, and the two fillies were looking right back at him.

"Oh… oh! I, um…" He forgot his grogginess instantly, shaking himself like a dog before getting to his feet. He scratched the back of his scaly neck with his claws. "H-hey, guys. Hey, Rarity…"

Rarity laughed inwardly at the fact he had singled her out of the group. "Hello, Spike. Sorry we woke you. Some of us weren't so… considerate." She looked over at Applejack. The farm pony gave her a sheepish smile.

"Nah, no big deal. I'm used to Twilight waking me up in the middle of the night all the time when she's studying…" Spike glanced over at where Twilight had been sitting next to him, only to see that she wasn't there. He raised his eyebrows. "Speaking of Twilight… where did she go? Is she behind you?" He stood up on tiptoe to get a better look.

"Yeah, I don't know where she went. You were snoring so loud you woke me up, and when I looked around, Twilight was gone." Scootaloo was speaking now. "She just kinda disappeared."

Applejack pursed her lips in thought. "Hold on there, Scoot. Are you sure Twilight didn't tell y'all anything? That's not like her to just leave you guys alone like that…"

"Sorry, everypony. I was… otherwise occupied."

They all whirled around at the sound of Twilight's voice. Their friend stood in the mouth of the hallway, with Nurse Redheart by her side. The alicorn cleared her throat.

"Ahem, eh… Sorry, Applejack. I know I probably shouldn't have left them all alone again, but this was important." She gestured to Nurse Redheart with a cock of her head.

Everybody's eyes gravitated toward the nurse. Rarity's stomach did a somersault.

"Oh my goodness… Sweetie Belle…?" she squeaked. Her legs shivered as she approached the nurse. They both nodded.

"Yes…" Nurse Redheart gulped. Everypony's eyes were glued on her, awaiting the final verdict that would determine Sweetie Belle's fate. "I am very glad to inform you all that Sweetie Belle's condition is stabilizing. She has responded well to the antivenom we have administered so far. We are expecting her to recover by tomorrow morning."

No sooner had these words left her mouth than the entire room gave a collective exhale of joyous relief. Applejack's hat had only been on her head for a moment before she took it right back off, pressing it to her heart as a gesture of the utmost thanks, and Applebloom and Scootaloo's eyes filled with happy tears. Behind them, Spike's face was plastered with a toothy grin.

But their reactions paled in comparison to Rarity's. With a loud cry of euphoria, the unicorn ran forward and smothered Nurse Redheart in a tremendous bear hug. She nearly lifted the shocked nurse off the ground in her excitement.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank Celestia! Thank you thank you thank you…" She swung the nurse bodily from side to side. Nurse Redheart was powerless to resist, letting Rarity toss her this way and that with her front hooves immobilized in the other mare's grasp. When Rarity finally let go, she sat down on the floor, breathing heavily and beaming at Nurse Redheart with an expression of pure joy.

But despite delivering the wonderful news, the nurse had hardly cracked a smile. Neither had Twilight. In fact, both of their faces were turned away, as if ashamed to look her, or any of them, in the eye.

Something was not right. In the matter of only a few seconds, all of her former exuberance washed away. Her hope-filled eyes slowly lost their radiance.

"Nurse… Twilight, what's wrong?"

Nurse Redheart exchanged glances with Twilight. The purple alicorn gave the other mare a single nod, and with a deep breath, began to speak.

"Rarity… Sweetie Belle's… she is going to recover, but… it's not going to be a full recovery—"

"What is it? What's the matter with Sweetie?" Rarity snapped at her, rising with apprehension to her hooves. "What do you mean, 'not a full recovery'?"

Twilight was about to answer when Nurse Redheart held a hoof to her mouth.

"Rarity, please listen. Sweetie Belle is still going to be the same filly as she was before, but… there's no other way I can say this, miss…"

"Say what? What are you talking about?" Rarity raised her voice. Nurse Redheart flinched, but she stood her ground.

"The leg that was bitten… it developed gangrene, and… I don't know how else to say this, but... she's not going to be able to keep it."

Every muscle in the nurse's body tensed up. The statement was uncompromising, unwavering. Absolute.

The hat fell from Applejack's grasp. Stunned speechlessness prevailed until the fillies started to cry.

"No." Rarity breathed out the word. "No. That's not… there's, there has to be something else." Her fur stood on end as a chill settled onto her like frost.

"The procedure is already occurring as we speak… she'll die if this does not happen. I wish there was another way, but… I offer my sincerest apologies, miss."

"No. No." Images were conjured in her mind of her sister lying on a table, with a doctor standing over her unresponsive body, saw in hoof…

Her eyes rolled back into her head as the world spun around her. She slumped back onto the floor, trying to rid herself of the images that were flooding her imagination, but to no avail.

"It's not… no. No." Her chest rose and fell with hysterical breaths.

The saw placed against flesh, sliding back and forth…

She gagged. Somebody cried for a bucket.

Back and forth…

Uncontrollable shivering wracked her entire body. She cowered in a ball on the floor, head hidden in her forelegs.

The grinding of serrated metal against bone…

She retched. Somepony tugged on her mane, lifting her head. She felt the rim of a bucket being placed under her chin.

Blade coated red with blood, grinding against bone, back and forth…

She heaved.

…

Twilight ignored the awful sounds reverberating around the walls of the metal pail as she held Rarity's head up with her magic. She placed a comforting wing around the unicorn's back, rubbing it up and down while Nurse Redheart held onto the bucket.

There was very little for Rarity's stomach to get rid of, but she continued to heave until absolutely nothing was left. Applejack had taken a hold of the girls and Spike, giving every effort to comfort them while her friend coughed and sputtered a few meters away. The fillies cried softly into Applejack's chest while Spike watched the scene before him with horrified fascination.

Rarity heaved one last time. It was dry; there was nothing left for her to purge. Saliva leaking into the bucket, she rested the underside of her chin on the rim. Soft breathing echoed off of the pail's hard metal surface.

Twilight ran a hoof over the top of Rarity's head like she was petting a dog. Rarity was motionless save the nearly imperceptible expansion of her ribcage as she breathed. If Twilight let go of the unicorn's mane, there would be nothing stopping her head from falling in. Rarity was spent.

"It's okay," Twilight cooed. "Just relax, Rarity. You're okay."

Nurse Redheart looked away from the bottom of the bucket, holding it under Rarity's head just in case. Once a minute had passed, she put her head next to Rarity's ear.

"Do you think it's okay if I take away the bucket, now?" she asked with a low voice. The other mare did not respond for quite some time, but eventually, her head bobbed up and down in a silent yes.

"Do you think you can sit up?"

Another nod. Nurse Redheart pulled the bucket away, holding it tight in her hooves and setting it with great care a little ways away. With Twilight's help, Rarity was able to sit up on the floor, albeit with her head hung low. She took slow, steady breaths, eyes closed like she was asleep.

"I'm going to go wash this. Just stay where you are." Nurse Redheart instructed despite the fact that Rarity did not seem like she was going anywhere anytime soon. She grabbed the handle of the bucket in her mouth and walked away, careful not to let it swing from side to side.

The only sound left in the room was the occasional sob from Applebloom and Scootaloo. Applejack was just as shocked by the news as they were, but she buried her feelings deep within, whispering comforting words to them both. But no matter what she said, she knew, and they knew, that Cutie Mark Crusading would never be the same again.

Twilight moved closer to Rarity, taking a better look at her face. The white unicorn's eyes had not opened, and if she had not seen her awake only moments ago, she would have supposed her to be asleep. Her wing wrapped all the way around the exhausted mare's back.

"I'm so sorry, Rarity. I… I wish there was something else, but… Sweetie Belle is… she's going to be the same pony she was before. I can't imagine how hard this is going to be, to adjust to something so awful, but… she's… I'm sorry. I'm probably just making things worse," she gave up with a small moan of frustration. She cursed her inability to form the right words...

But Rarity, in the faintest of voices, refuted her.

"No."

Twilight's ears, which had fallen back on her head, perked right back up. "Uh... no, what?"

"No. You… You're right," Rarity said in a hoarse voice. She coughed, hacking up leftover acid which was sticking to the back of her throat. "Sweetie Belle… she's still my little sister. You're right, Twilight. And now…" She took in more air in her lungs, steeling herself. "…she's going to need me now more than ever. And this time, I swear… I'm going to be there for her. Every step of the way, I'm going to be there, if that's what it takes."

Twilight found herself looking at Rarity face to face. The other mare's eyes were dry, the tears evaporated by the fire of determination which blazed underneath.

"And even though this is going to happen…she's going to live. She's getting a second chance. _I'm_ getting a second chance. And… I'm not going to waste it."

From the other side of the room, Applejack was smiling.

…

The last of the rainclouds rolled away long ago, and the darkest part of the night was coming to an end as the first rays of sunlight tinted the eastern horizon a pinkish hue. The birds sang the first of their welcoming songs from the treetops, picking up in tempo and volume as the sun climbed higher and higher over Equestria.

Rarity watched as the night turned to day from her place against the wall. On the bench across from her, Applejack laid with Applebloom under her foreleg, fast asleep. Scootaloo had taken a place next to Spike in slumber, and even Twilight had not been able to resist the allure of rest, passing out at her side.

But not her. Anticipation and anxiety made closing her eyes a futile effort. The white unicorn's focus drifted all around the room, and while her body was still, her mind was on edge. She rehearsed what she was going to say to her little sister, trying to form the right words in her brain, but nothing seemed to suffice.

The clip-clop of hooves on linoleum tile. Somepony was coming. Her focus became riveted to the open hall.

A stallion entered. He was wearing a pair of round spectacles and a white lab coat over his gamboge fur. He also wore a stethoscope around his neck, which, Rarity noticed, was identical to the one adorning his flank. He looked around the room.

"Err…ahem." He cleared his throat. It had the desired effect, and within moments, Rarity could see everyone's eyes beginning to twitch and flicker as they came awake. The stallion smiled.

"I apologize for having to wake you. I realize you must have had quite the long night," he said. Twilight's head, which had been resting on her chest, jerked up as she became aware of somepony talking in the room, and Applejack nudged her sister along with Scootaloo and Spike to get them up.

"Are you…" Rarity inhaled sharply with realization. The orange stallion nodded.

"Yes, I am Doctor Scopes. I've been the one working on Sweetie Belle for the last day, and…" He adjusted his spectacles as he looked at her. "Correct me if I am wrong, but are you her sister? I see the family resemblance…"

Rarity nodded emphatically. "Yes, yes, I am. How is she doing?" she questioned him with great impatience, sitting on the edge of her seat. Everypony else, now awake, followed suit, until all eyes were on the Doctor. He removed his spectacles.

"Ah, yes. That is why I am here, after all." He took a cloth from out of the pocket in his lab coat, polishing his spectacles. "I am pleased to say that Sweetie Belle is remarkable stable, considering the circumstances of her arrival here, but…" He placed his spectacles back on his snout, his face making a pained expression. "… as you know, she has just undergone a process that is quite taxing on the body. As such, she is not quite back to normal yet, but seeing as she has gone through numerous hours of rest since the end of the procedure… I think it is a good idea for her to see familiar faces when she awakes."

Rarity's heart leapt into her neck. At last, the moment she had been waiting for all this time had come.

…

So why was she so afraid?

She and all the others traversed the hallways behind Doctor Scopes. Applejack had to hold her sister and Scootaloo back to prevent them from rocketing ahead out of excitement from seeing their friend again.

They walked past the very same room she had been in with Applejack, continuing far down the hallway. Rarity's trepidation increased with every second that passed, but she nonetheless pressed on ahead of the rest.

Doctor Scopes brought them to the end of the hall and turned right. For a brief moment, he was lost to sight, but when she rounded the corner, he was standing beside one of the room doors a few steps away.

"This is the one," he said. She froze, causing Twilight to nearly walk into her. Right here, on the other side of this door. This was it.

"Now, be careful not to startle her," he instructed them. "The anesthesia is wearing off fast, but she is most likely still asleep. I'll be right behind you all."

He opened the door. Mustering up all her courage, Rarity walked in.

A line of identically shaped oscillations traveled across the screen of a heartbeat monitor which beeped a steady rhythm at the side of the bed. A nurse pony stood at the front side of the room, tending to an IV bag which was emplaced in Sweetie's remaining foreleg. Upon seeing the visitors, she gave them a tiny smile in greeting, moving out of the way.

But Rarity noticed none of this. The only thing she saw in front of her was her sister Sweetie Belle, lying under the covers in the center of the bed. To Rarity, her face, with her eyes and mouth closed in peaceful sleep, seemed to radiate its own light. But as her eyes traveled down her sister's body, she saw it. At the spot below her neck, where her right foreleg was supposed to be, there was nothing left but a tiny, bandaged stump. At the sight, the very warmth of her blood seemed stowed away.

The rest of her companions walked into the room after her. Applebloom and Scootaloo walked in with excited grins, but as soon as their friend's injury came into view, their grins disappeared.

"A-Applejack… is that…" Applebloom whispered to her big sister, pointing her hoof at Sweetie Belle's bandaged stump. Applejack confirmed her sister's suspicions with a single, curt nod. The little yellow filly covered her mouth in shock.

"Oh my gosh…" she said into her hoof. Scootaloo, who was standing right next to her, could no longer bear to look at it, turning her face away.

In less than a minute, Sweetie Belle's eyes could be seen moving underneath her closed lids, and the filly's face twitched. Rarity's legs trembled from both elation and fear, moving to the left side of the bed and standing so that she was next to Sweetie Belle's face, on the opposite side of her missing limb. The rest of them stayed behind, even the Doctor, giving the two sisters some room out of respect.

The unicorn filly's eyes flickered once, twice, and then opened.

For a few moments, she only stared straight up at the ceiling. Nothing in the room made a sound except for the steady beep of the heart monitor on the other side of the room.

"Sweetie…" Rarity dared to whisper to the little filly on the bed. Sweetie Belle's pupils dilated with the familiar voice, and her head rolled over to look her big sister for the first time.

"Hey, Sweetie? It's me. It's Rarity." She said with tenderness dripping from her voice. Sweetie Belle looked confused for a second, but her mouth opened in a ghost of a smile.

"Rarity?" she squeaked. The elder unicorn nodded happily.

"Yes, Sweetie."

The corners of Sweetie Belle's lips stretched out into a smile. Her tired eyes sparked to life.

"H-hey, Rarity," she said, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. Rarity smiled right back at her, feeling unable to contain the excitement that was surging through her.

"Hey, Sweetie. H-how are you feeling, darling?" she asked, petting Sweetie Belle's foreleg with a hoof.

The filly's smile faded slightly. She closed her eyes, turning away from her older sister. "Not… not very good," she croaked. "Really… woozy."

Hearing this, Rarity reached over and touched Sweetie Belle on the forehead, checking for fever. There was none. Satisfied, she ran the hoof over her sister's cheek.

"Don't worry about that. That's just the anesthesia wearing off, darling. You'll feel better soon."

Sweetie Belle's eyes shot back open. She looked at her sister, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Ane…what's that?" She asked in a daze. Rarity could not help but chuckle at her sister's childlike innocence.

"Well, it's… it's what they give to ponies during surgery…"

Without warning, Rarity stopped speaking. She realized, too late, what she had revealed. She felt like a sledgehammer had knocked all of the air from her lungs.

Sweetie Belle's innocent eyes gazed up at her with worry and befuddlement. "Sur…Surgery?"

Everypony in the room could only stare at them in horrified silence. Rarity nodded her head, biting her lip until she could taste blood.

"Yes. S-surgery for…for…" She tried to come up with something, anything that would delay the devastating revelation, but to no avail. As a last defense against the inevitable, she closed her mouth and stopped speaking.

Only for one moment, Rarity's eyes traveled down the filly's body to glance at her severed leg. Before she could correct her mistake, Sweetie Belle followed her big sister's gaze until it had settled upon that same spot on the bed. The spot where her leg was supposed to be, but wasn't.

Sweetie fixed it with a blank stare.

"R-Rar-ity…" she stuttered. The space between each pulse on the monitor screen went from long to short. "Wh-what… where's…"

Rarity's heart felt like it was going to burst in her chest. The harlequin eyes of her baby sister expanded with terror as she saw the bandages. There was no hiding the truth, now.

"I know, Sweetie, I know..."

"Rarity…" Sweetie's voice cracked, as if pleading for help. The filly's eyes darted around, and her head rocked back and forth as she frantically searched the bed. Rarity clasped a hoof over Sweetie's remaining leg.

"Yes, Sweetie. I'm here. Rarity's here..." She was holding back tears, trying to remain strong for her sister. "I'm here."

"It's… It's gone…" Sweetie Belle shivered. "It's gone, Rarity…"

Rarity grasped her hoof tighter. "I know… Oh Sweetie…" she whimpered, "I'm so sorry, Sweetie. I'm so sorry…"

"It's gone," the filly cried again, on the verge of hysteria. The monitor beeped rapidly. "I-It's gone! R-Rarity!"

It was in this moment, when the cries of shock and despair reached her ears, that Rarity realized something… there was nothing left she could say. The apologies she rehearsed, the words she had meant to say, all of it… it no longer mattered. There were no words that could take her sister's pain away.

So she did the only thing left she could do. Reaching over the side of the bed, she locked her hooves around her sister's quivering form, hugging the filly's broken body for all she was worth.

"It's okay, Sweetie. Rarity's here, Rarity's got you." She used one hoof to cradle her sister's head like she was holding a mewling newborn foal. "Rarity's got you."

_And I'll never leave you again._

Sweetie's sobs turned to wails in her embrace. Rarity wrapped herself protectively around her baby sister, rocking her back and forth. She could not hear her friend's cries behind her, nor could she hear the incessant beeping of the heartbeat monitor. To her, nothing else existed but the weeping filly in her grasp.

"Rarity," Sweetie cried out for help. "Rarity…"

Rarity ran her face through Sweetie's mane. "I'm not going anywhere, Sweetie. I promise. Shh..." She kissed the top of her head. "I've got you. I promise, Sweetie, I promise. I'm not going to leave you."

_Never._

Something pressed against the back of her neck. She turned her head.

Sweetie Belle, with her remaining leg, was clinging onto Rarity's neck, returning her big sister's embrace.

Rarity broke. Her cries became indistinguishable with Sweetie's as the two sisters clung to one another on the hospital bed. Rarity gasped out one last thing into her sister's ear before her sobs rendered her unable to speak.

"I… love you, Sweetie, I—love you."

_Always._

**Author's Note:**

Well... there you have it. That's the end. Hope it was worth the wait!

See anything you don't like? See anything you think needs some improvement? Feel free to let me know!


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